British Organisation Without a Cool Acronym
by VibeQuake
Summary: Top agent Esther van Dyke is not only BOWCA's first female human agent, she's also the first international agent. She has a spotless record with no failed missions...except one, when she not only failed to solve the case, but she also failed to save someone very close to her. Along with her partner, the spirited Double 0-0, she must solve the only case that has ever beaten her.
1. Prologue

**HERE'S A NEW STORY! XD** **If you've read my previous stories, in terms of timeline, this story takes place a few months before Teddy's Adulthood.** **If you haven't read my previous stories, that's fine, because it takes place in Britain as opposed to the American Tri-State Area. It is a standalone.**

 **Author's Note: this is explained in my fic but Agent Zero is the new name of Agent 0-0, seen in Phineas and Ferb episodes Live and Let Drive (cameo) and mainly Elementary, My Dear Stacy. Also it has been over eight years since the episode Last Day of Summer but Double 0-0 is the same age as his appearance in Live and Let Drive, purely because I'm sure that he was at his physical prime in Elementary, My Dear Stacy**

"Okay, there's another way we can play this."

Esther stood up from her chair at the dull table and walked around to the two-way mirror, her arms behind her back. "Instead of me asking questions and you sitting there and not answering them, how about I ask questions and I answer them too?"

The suspect gave her an odd look but he continued to say nothing.

"We arrested you on charges of assault, correct?" She didn't give him a chance to reply. "Yes, that's right."

Now even the supervising arresting officer was looking at her strangely.

"And it says on your form that you're denying the charges," mused Esther. "Which means you must be innocent."

"What?" spluttered the arresting officer. He had heard of Esther's odd methods, so he closed his mouth and said nothing more, but he couldn't help wondering where on earth the BOWCA agent was going with this.

The suspect stared at Esther.

"I mean, it makes sense." Esther turned to face the suspect. "Right? If you don't admit the charges, you can't be guilty of them."

"That's ridiculous!" the suspect burst out. "I denied the charges because I assaulted someone! If you assaulted someone and didn't want to go to prison, wouldn't you deny the charges?"

"Is that a confession?" Esther asked quietly.

He seemed to realise what he'd said. "What? No!"

"Can we charge him on that?" Esther asked the arresting officer.

"Yes, yes we can," grinned the arresting officer.

"Then my work here is done."

Esther left the interrogation room and entered the lit corridor outside. Waiting for her was a stylish man in a black suit, leaning casually against the wall with his arm folded and a grin on his face.

"Impressive."

"Thanks."

"Does that method usually work?" inquired Agent Zero, formerly known as Agent Double 0-0.

"Well, luckily for us, that guy was just plain dumb."

"Don't sell yourself short." Zero adjusted his bowtie. "I couldn't have made the guy talk."

"With all due respect, your forte is guns, car chases, and action. Mine is the quieter side."

"It's why we work so well together as a team," Zero pointed out. "You want to go to dinner later?"

"Sure," Esther smiled. "Well, if I can manage it. I have to write up a report on the interrogation using only the tape. I've already sat and listened to that painful five hours of interrogation that I watched before I had had enough and absolutely had to intervene. I honestly don't want to listen to that whole damn interview again, if I'm being honest." She caught Zero staring at her. "What?"

"Sometimes it's hard to believe English is only your second language. No offence."

Esther laughed. "Für mich ist das ein Kompliment."

"…what?"

Esther paused for a full twenty seconds before she realised she had unconsciously spoken in German instead of English. "Oh, I'm sorry. I said "to me, that's a compliment". That's awkward, since you just said it was hard to believe that English is not my first language."

"It's perfectly okay," Zero dismissed with a smile. "I'm nowhere near fluent in Russian and yet sometimes I find myself speaking it instead of English. It's perfectly understandable that you would sometimes slip into your native tongue instead of the tongue you adopted when you moved here."

"Do me a favour and don't tell John. I seriously do not need another reason for him to call me racist names. He calls me a Nazi, just because I'm German."

"Has he done it recently?" asked Zero.

Esther smiled briefly. "Not since you hit him."

"And I will do it again if he calls you that again," Zero said. "Besides, he's jealous because you're a foreign woman and yet you're BOWCA's top agent. That's too much for his sexist, racist mind to bear. Plus, you're bi-lingual and he can only speak English."

Esther smiled again. "Thanks for sticking up for me."

Zero also smiled. "You're a talented agent in your own right, Esther. I can't abide people who bully other people just because of that."

At that moment, a fellow BOWCA agent came up to them. He was wearing a silver suit similar to Zero's, his dark blonde hair slicked back. "Inspector Initials wants me to say she's got a new mission for you," he said in a very posh London accent.

"Thanks James."

""You"?" repeated Esther. "You mean Zero and me?"

"Yes," replied James simply.

"Not you?"

"No, actually. I'm starting training to go on a mission next August in sunny Bombay."

"Where's that?" Esther asked.

"India."

Zero sucked air through his teeth. "India in August? You're going to melt."

James grinned. "I know. I'm packing the thinnest shirts I have. But Bombay's meant to be a beautiful city so hopefully that will detract some attention away from the heat."

"You're so lucky," Esther said enviously. "I've only been out of the country on a mission once, and that was back to Germany."

"That's because you're our best agent and all the major threats are here in the UK," James said. "Anyway, you'd best go to Inspector Initials and get your mission."

He waved as he walked off. Zero turned to Esther. "I bet it's something to do with smuggling."

"I bet it's thefts," countered Esther.

"Loser buys a dinner for two?"

"You're on."


	2. Mission Prep

**Don't worry, the racist character doesn't appear yet. The next few chapters will focus on Esther, Zero, and James.**

…

Esther and Zero headed to Inspector Initials's office. On the way, Esther took some time to reflect. She may have been German-born and raised, but she had been an English citizen for half her life: twelve years. For the first couple of years, a lot of people could immediately tell she was German, but recently barely anybody had even detected her very slight German accent.

It was common knowledge that Esther van Dyke was BOWCA's best agent. Esther was always quick to deny it, but Zero was always quick to tell others that his partner was BOWCA's top agent.

BOWCA was divided in a weird way. All the animal agents were spread out in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. All the human agents operated in England. Esther was currently the only female agent in BOWCA's human division.

When they reached the large office, the prim older woman was seated behind her desk, tapping on the keyboard of her computer. As the two agents entered, Inspector Initials looked up. "Ah, Agents Zero and Seven."

Esther's official title was Agent Seven but only a couple of agents, like Agent Zero, went by only their title. Most went by their real name, like Esther.

"Agent Six said you had a mission for us," Zero said, referring to James's title.

"Indeed I do. However, before I give it to you, I need to have a word with Agent Seven."

"Okay," Esther said, her heart beating faster as her anxiety grew.

"There's no need to look so nervous, Agent Seven," said Initials, looking slightly amused. "It's good news. We have another female agent joining us."

"No way!" gasped Esther. "That's great!"

"Yes, it is a big step forward for our organisation," Initials agreed. "And that's why I want you to be her supervising officer for her probation period."

 _"_ _Me?"_

"Yes, seeing as you are BOWCA's first female agent, it will be more prudent for you to oversee her training."

"So what do I have to do as a supervising officer?" Esther asked.

"You have to train her until her final test after six months. If she passes, she'll be able to go on regular missions. If not, you'll train her for six more months. If you and your partner are assigned a mission, you can choose to let her come. Preferably bring her on as many missions as possible."

"Not this mission, right?" Zero asked.

"No, not this one. You haven't met her yet."

"That's true."

Esther asked, "So what's her name?"

"Her name is Ruth Summers. She's twenty years old and she's originally from Scotland."

"When do we get to meet her?" Esther asked.

"This evening, after your mission."

"This evening?" repeated Zero. "Our mission is going to take less than a day?"

"That is correct, Agent Zero. Your mission is to stake out a very expensive jewelry shop in London. It is the only London jewelry store that has not been robbed in the last two weeks. You two will pose as a couple on a date while eating lunch in the café opposite. Agent Six will be watching from the rooftop of the café."

Both Esther and Zero had different questions.

"Why would the perpetrator rob a store in broad daylight?" Esther asked at the same time as:

"Why is James joining us?"

Initials addressed Esther first. "That is apparently his method. He can disappear into a crowd easily."

"He?" repeated Esther. "How do you know it's a he?"

"We have a suspect," said Initials carefully. "We know who is behind the robberies but we cannot just arrest him. We need to catch him in the act."

She turned to Zero. "And to answer your question, Agent Six is helping with aerial surveillance."

…

 **Part 2 of the mission coming soon.**


	3. An Unpleasant Reminder

**Part 2**

…

Esther speared her last chip with her fork and ate it. Then she put her knife and fork together on her plate. "That was delicious. How was _your_ fish and chips?"

"Delicious, as always." Zero ate his last chip. "I expect nothing less from London's best fish and chip shop."

They were sitting at a table at the window of the café, with a good view of the jewelry shop. They had been sitting there for two hours now, and nobody had robbed the store. Esther propped her head on her elbow and watched people going in and out.

After a couple of minutes, she spotted a man with a weird hairdo and a white lab coat going into the shop. He looked shifty. He also looked like the picture of the suspect that Inspector Initials had shown Esther and Zero earlier. Esther slowly got up, never taking her eyes off the shop. Zero asked, "Hey, where are you going?"

"I need a new bracelet."

Zero seemed to understand. "Our mission was to not go into the shop!" he hissed. "You're going to jeopardize the whole thing!"

"I've seen the suspect."

She didn't wait to see her partner's reaction. She left the café, crossed the road, and entered the jewelry store to the tinkling of a bell. The shop was practically empty. The bored shopkeeper behind the till gave her a brief smile. Esther moved around cases of jewels, spotting the suspect in a corner.

The corner where none of the security cameras reached.

She knew she now _was_ about to jeopardize the mission, but she tapped the man on the back, and when he turned round, she asked, "Are you Professor Daniel Bannister?"

He looked extremely suspicious. "Yes," he said slowly. "Why?"

His accent was American with a hint of a foreign country. _Iceland or Greenland, maybe?_

Esther hesitated. She hadn't gotten that far. However, Bannister didn't give her a chance to reply. Fast as lightning, he picked up one of the smaller display cases and flung it at Esther. Because of their close proximity, Esther couldn't dodge. The cabinet hit her in the abdomen and made her double over with pain. Bannister vaulted over the display case and, grabbing a fistful of jewels from the case, ran for the door. Recovering, Esther followed. A quick glance into the café made sure that Zero came running to help.

Bannister leapt up, bounced off a car, and swung up onto the roof of the building next to the café. Without hesitation, Esther followed. Bringing a small knife out of her jacket pocket, she flicked it. The blade extended until she was holding a full-length katana. With this in hand, Esther chased the suspect across the thin, flat rooftop of the British Museum. Bannister skidded to a stop at the edge of the roof, unable to go any further. He turned to find Esther's sword pointing at his chest.

"Give up."

Bannister grinned slyly. "You're not going to fail to save your partner this time, are you?"

Esther narrowed her eyes and aimed the sword closer to her enemy's chest. "What are you talking about?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Bannister still had a grin on his face. "I'm talking about Isaac."

Esther took in a sharp breath and her sword arm dipped. Taking advantage of the opening, Bannister kicked Esther in the abdomen. It wasn't a powerful kick but it made Esther lose her balance. The sword sailing out of her hand, Esther tumbled down the slated tiles and fell off the edge of the roof. She landed hard on the back of her head, the rest of her body smacking painfully against the cobblestones as she came to rest on her back, her left arm making a ninety degree angle by the side of her head and her right arm out by her side. Through her dazed eyes and the pain in her back, Esther saw her enemy get away. She couldn't fight the blackness any longer; her eyes closed and her mind shut down.

…

Zero witnessed his partner's fall with horror. Now, sick with worry, he ran to her side. James slid down the ladder from the roof and joined him. Zero touched her forehead tenderly and made a move to pick up her shoulders.

"Don't move her!" James shouted, panicked.

Zero froze.

"She might have spinal injuries."

"Right, right." Though Zero's anxiety was growing, he should have remembered that.

James felt her throat. "She's breathing. She's just been knocked out. Her life isn't in danger, even if she does have spinal injuries."

"Are spinal injuries likely?" asked Zero worriedly.

To his relief, James shook his head. "She only fell thirty feet. Usually I'd say yes, but Esther has extra strong bones. She'd need to fall from at least fifty feet for there to be a chance of a serious spinal injury. We should wait until she wakes up before we move her."

"What happened? She had him!"

"Bannister mentioned something: a name," remembered James. "It threw her off."

"What did he say?" Zero demanded.

"He said the name "Isaac", I think."

Zero blanched. "That was the name of her former partner," he said huskily, his heart in his throat. "Isaac Brandt."

"Oh, I remember him," James recalled. "He was the young man who recruited Esther, right?"

"Right. I don't know what happened to him but it must have been bad because I asked her about him last year and she completely shut off. She looked like she was going to be sick."

"Well, something must have happened to him, or you wouldn't be her partner."

"No kidding. We should get Esther back to the office.

…

 **Don't worry guys, Esther's the main character. She's going to be fine. Mostly. But who really is Isaac and what happened to him?**


	4. The Life Of A Man Of Action

**I:} Several very familiar characters either physically appear or are mentioned in this chapter :D**

…

Deciding that waiting for Esther to wake up might take too long, Agent Zero and James brought Esther to the hospital wing of BOWCA's building, named the Hub. They left her there and Zero stayed with her, while James went back to his office cubicle. Just like OWCA, all BOWCA agents had office cubicles, though they had to be a big bigger, since the agents were human, not animal. Unlike OWCA, the cubicles actually had doors.

James sat down in his chair and began typing up the report for the mission, describing everything that had happened. Writing about his friend's fall was hard for him to do but he managed to remain impartial.

Then someone knocked on his door. "Come in," James called, leaning back in his chair to give himself a break from the computer screen.

The green-haired man entered the office holding a paper cup. "Hello, James. Here's your tea."

"Ah, thanks Ferb."

Ferb Fletcher studied at university in England before ultimately joining the British Organisation Without a Cool Acronym. Although he talked a lot more, his love of inventing had not changed. Inspector Initials made him the chief engineer at BOWCA. For some reason, Ferb had also taken upon himself the task of giving all the office agents their morning coffee or, more often, tea. He was friends with Agent Zero because they were both close friends of Perry the Platypus. He was also friends with James and Esther because they were friends with Zero.

"How did your mission go?" Ferb asked, perching on James's desk.

James sighed. "It started out fine, but the suspect got away and Esther got injured."

"Is she okay?"

Ferb had only met BOWCA's best agent a few times, but he really liked her.

"Hopefully she'll be fine," James replied. "She got knocked out and she may have a few injuries but hopefully nothing serious."

"Well, Esther's very resilient. I'm sure she'll be fine."

Ferb stood up. "Well, I have to go. I'm clocking out early."

"Really? Why?"

"Date night," grinned Ferb.

"You have a girlfriend?"

"No. I have a fiancée."

"Oh, I didn't know that!" James smiled at his friend. "When are you getting married?"

"End of June next year."

"And when did you get engaged?"

"Yesterday," Ferb replied. "She's amazing, really amazing. We've been going out for years. We knew each other as kids, you see, but we weren't romantically interested in each other until we realised we were going to the same college here in England."

"She's American?"

"Yeah."

"What's her name?"

"Gretchen," answered Ferb. "She actually works for BOWCA too."

"Oh!" Clarity dawned on James. "She's Inspector Initials's intern, right?"

"That's right, though she's also a part-time field agent. She was a member of the Fireside Girls for fourteen years. She has a lot of skills."

"Fireside Girls?"

"The American version of Girl Guides."

"Ah, right."

"Except a bit more extreme."

"Really? How?"

For the next hour, Ferb told stories of the Fireside Girls Troop 46231's feats, led by their fearless leader, Ferb's brother's wife, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.

"I agree," Zero laughed. "Fireside Girls do seem more extreme than Girl Guides. I mean, they crewed an aeroplane, acted as a pit crew for a very real racing car, and rolled down a rollercoaster track in a Chevrolet Corvair 95 Greenbrier to procure some sap for you and your brother."

"Indeed," grinned Ferb. "And Phineas and I were often there to witness their amazing feats."

At that moment, a phone rang. It didn't sound like Zero's landline and he didn't have a mobile phone so he stared at Ferb, who was looking sheepish. "Ah, usually I'm in my lunch break when he calls."

"When who calls?"

"Phineas. He works as a rocket scientist in Houston. He always FaceTimes me when he wakes up, before he leaves for work."

"You can answer it in here if you want," Zero offered.

Ferb gave him a grateful look, fished a mobile phone out of his pocket, aimed the backwards camera at him, and pressed answer. Zero watched. He heard an American voice say, "Hey, Ferb! What took you so long?"

"Hi, Phin. I kind of got caught up and I'm still at work."

"Oh. I can call you back, if you want."

"No, no, it's okay. I'm in my friend's office."

A female voice came out of the speaker. "Hi Ferb, how's Gretchen?"

"Hi Izzy. We're getting married," smiled Ferb. "I proposed yesterday and she said yes."

The squeal that emanated from the phone just then was so high pitched that it would have shattered windows had Isabella been here with them.

"Izzy, I'm in someone else's office," Ferb reproached his friend with a smile.

"Oh, sorry. Wait, you have a friend at work? Which one? James?"

"Yes, James."

Ferb turned the phone around and pointed it at James, who gave a wave. The man standing in the camera had a triangular head and red hair. A black haired woman was standing in the background. They both waved. "Hi James."

Ferb turned the camera back to himself.

"You're not the only one who has good news, Ferb," said Phineas. "We have two pieces of good news. First, Candace is moving to the UK!"

"What?" gasped Ferb. "Why?"

"You know how she became a lawyer?"

Ferb nodded.

"Well, she quit that job yesterday and she's going to try for Prime Minister of England!"

"Why not President of the USA?" Ferb inquired.

"She thinks President Tjinder is doing a very good job and there's no need to replace him," grinned Phineas. "So Candace is going to use her law education to become an MP in England. She's already applied for citizenship."

"Doesn't the Prime Minister have to be British?" asked Ferb.

James, who overheard the question, answered, "No, actually. The Prime Minister has to be:

"The leader of the majority in the House of Commons;  
"An elected Member of Parliament;  
"At least 18 years old;  
"A citizen of the UK, Republic of Ireland or 52 other Commonwealth member countries.

"Nowhere does it say that the Prime Minister has to be British born."

"Well, good for her," beamed Ferb. "But what's the second bit of good news?"

Phineas and Isabella exchanged a delighted look. "Can I tell him?" Isabella asked.

"Sure."

Isabella steadied herself, looked into the camera, and said, "We're going to have a baby!"

Ferb nearly fell off the desk. "WHAT? That's great, guys! Congratulations! How far along?"

"Two months, but we only found out yesterday," Phineas replied.

"Do you know what gender?"

"We want it to be a surprise," Isabella answered. "I'm really nervous but also excited!"

"I bet you are," Ferb grinned. "That's great, guys."

James stood up and stretched. "Lunch time," he said. "I think I'll leave you guys to it."

"Thanks."

James left the office. Ferb's life was complex: a new niece or nephew coming, a new wife, and his sister coming to England to try and be the Prime Minister. Compared to Ferb's life, James felt completely ordinary.

…

 **Okay, first of all, I'm so sorry if you ship Ferbnessa or if you hate the ship Ferbetchen (or both) but I think it's too cute so that's the ship I included.**

 **Second of all, how about that idea to make Ferb and Gretchen members of BOWCA? Cool, right?**

 **Third of all, PHINEAS AND ISABELLA ARE MARRIED AND ABOUT TO HAVE A CHILD! AND PHINEAS IS A ROCKET SCIENTIST! I thought that would be a fitting job for the brilliant mind that is Phineas Flynn.**

 **Fourth, Baljeet is president! Wtf, right?**

 **PM me with thoughts :)**


	5. What Happened to Isaac part 1 of 2

**Everybody ready? The truth is revealed…**

…

Esther groaned as her brain rebooted. She opened her eyes and for a moment was unaware of where she was. All she could see was a white ceiling, and that reminded her of when she was in a car accident when she was fifteen. Her older friend had been driving, not entirely sober. Her first sight upon regaining consciousness had been a white ceiling, and for a moment she thought she was fifteen again and back in that hospital. Then she remembered: _I'm an agent of BOWCA. I was on a mission and I fell off a roof…_

"Esther, how are you feeling?"

Esther looked to her right and saw her partner, Agent Zero, sitting by her hospital bed. "Headachy," she answered truthfully.

"Any pain in your back?"

Esther shook her head. "I can't feel anything out of the ordinary. How did I get here?"

"James and I carried you," Zero answered.

"Oh, well thank you."

"It's quite all right."

He seemed to be wrestling with a question that he wanted to ask. "Is everything okay?" Esther asked.

Zero paused. He decided to play it safe for now and ask, "What caused you to lose focus like that? You had him."

Esther turned her head to face the ceiling and said nothing. _Oh, well done_ , thought Zero. _You just shut down any hope you had of learning about Isaac._

But Esther only paused for a moment and said, "Bannister mentioned a name. Isaac. It threw me off."

"Isaac Brandt, your former partner?"

"Yes," answered Esther softly. "My partner of two years."

"The same amount of time as you've had me as a partner," realised Zero. "What happened to him?"

It was risky, Zero knew. As he had told James, last time he had asked her about Isaac, she had almost thrown up and had refused to talk to Zero for a whole day.

Esther was silent. Zero cursed himself in his head for having pushed her too far, before she said, "I don't like talking about it."

"I understand it must have been bad, but-."

"It's the only case I failed to solve."

Zero honestly thought he had heard his partner wrong. "What?"

"You heard me. I'm not saying it again."

"The only case you-but I thought you have a spotless record."

"Nearly spotless. I got too emotionally involved, and that's why I failed this case."

"So Isaac was involved?" Zero said.

Esther nodded. Zero could see how much pain talking about the incident would bring her, but the fact remained that clearly she wasn't over it, or Bannister mentioning the name Isaac would not have caused her to react as intensely as she did.

"Esther, I realise that this experience was painful for you, but it might help to talk about it, get it off your chest."

Esther said nothing.

"All right then, how about I ask you simple questions and you answer them? You don't have to give too much detail if you don't want to."

Esther still said nothing. Then she said, "You really won't let this go, will you?"

"No, no I will not."

"Then I am prepared to answer your questions."

"Thank you." Zero wondered where on Earth he should start. He decided to start small, with a simple, "What was your relationship to Isaac?"

Esther hesitated. "He was my partner."

"Anything else? Were you a couple?"

"He was my husband."

"What?" gasped Zero. "I never knew you were married!"

"Let me explain. When I came to England, I took my mother's maiden name, van Dyke, and abandoned the name I had been given at birth: Esther Florentine."

"If I may ask, why did you change it?"

"Because I wanted to start again. Esther Florentine was a naïve girl, who was scared of most everything. I had put all those qualities behind me when I moved to England, but the name Florentine reminded me of who I once was. The child of nineteen years old. So when I moved to England on my twentieth birthday, not only was I going into a new decade in my life, but also a new country. I needed to be a whole new person. So fearful Esther Florentine became fearless Esther van Dyke, BOWCA's best agent.

"But I couldn't have become Esther van Dyke without Isaac. I found out later that he was watching me and my family when we were both in our teenage years. He was "talent spotting", as he put it. Apparently I caught his attention. He had joined BOWCA in his teenage years, long before I came to England, so he was waiting for me when I arrived. He recruited me for BOWCA and I got a job here as his partner. We soon fell in love and he proposed to me. I said yes." Esther took a deep breath. "My wedding day was the happiest day of my life. Walking down the aisle to wed the man I loved most in the world was a dream come true. We even planned the children we were going to have, but fate had another plan." Esther paused. "He oversaw my training himself. Without his dedication, I would have remained Esther Florentine."

Zero was struggling to input all the information he had just heard. "So Isaac made you into the person you are today?"

"Yes."

She didn't offer any more information than that. "…Esther, what happened to him?"

…

 **Since the original chapter was nearly 2000 words, I've decided to split it up. Next chapter: what really happened to Isaac is revealed!**


	6. What Happened to Isaac part 2 of 2

**Author's Note: there will be some mentions of blood in this chapter. It's not much but it may be considered distressing to some people.**

Silence. Then Esther said, "State secrets had been given to five senior agents, including Isaac. We were given a mission: these state secrets had been given to OWCA in America, and we had to find out who."

Since Esther paused after this, Zero asked, "And did you?"

"We thought so. But the person we accused had an alibi. It didn't make sense, especially because all the other evidence pointed to him, we were sure. But then our suspect completely flipped the tables on us and accused Isaac. Worse, he actually had non-circumstantial evidence."

"No way…!"

"I didn't want to believe it, and Isaac vehemently denied it, so I didn't believe it. We worked hard to uncover more evidence but everything we found…it all pointed to him. I never believed it. I still don't believe it to this day."

"But giving state secrets to OWCA in America? That's hardly a crime of epic proportions."

"It is, for two reasons. One, the information was given in the strictest confidence, and even Isaac telling me would have had him suspended."

"Oh."

"And two, it was proven that the person who had given the secrets to OWCA had received money in return."

"Ah. _Selling_ state secrets as opposed to _giving_ them is much more serious."

"Exactly."

"So what happened next?"

Esther swallowed loudly and sat up in bed, adjusting her position. "Isaac was arrested, despite my protests, and sent for trial. But as he was being taken into the courthouse…"

She shuddered and a look of grief came onto her face. "You don't have to finish," Zero said hurriedly, worried about the psychological effect on his closest friend.

"No, I have to. I've come this far." She took a deep, shuddering breath in and out. "As he was being taken into the courthouse, right in front of me, he was shot in the head by a sniper hiding in the building opposite."

"No…!"

Esther nodded sadly. "Right in front of me. One moment I was walking behind him, the next I heard a gunshot, blood was flying everywhere, and Isaac had collapsed. I screamed for help and refused to leave the love of my life's side until an ambulance came, but deep down inside I knew that Isaac was gone, and he was never coming back. Never again would I relish in his praise and shy away from his scolding. Never again would I be able to even talk to him. The person who had molded me into BOWCA's best agent, the man I loved more than life itself, was dead."

"That's awful…" was the only thing Zero could think of to say. He didn't want to sound condescending but he also didn't want to seem heartless by saying nothing.

"The thing I hate most about the whole incident is that Isaac hadn't been found guilty or innocent yet." Esther pressed her fist against her mouth in an effort to stop herself from crying. "Someone killed him without knowing the verdict."

"So was the affair pinned on him?"

Esther shook her head. "They agreed that if someone killed him before he was found guilty or innocent, it couldn't have been him. The case is still open."

"The only case you ever…" He switched what he was going to say mid-sentence. "…that was never resolved."

"Yes. I let my anger that Isaac was being accused cloud my judgement. Maybe if I hadn't done that, I would have cleared my husband of suspicion and saved his life."

Zero did not tell Esther that she was wrong. He believed in being brutally honest, whether that meant telling people the harsh truth or not telling them a sweet lie. From what Esther had told him, it was partly her fault that Isaac died, though of course he would never say that aloud. He was honest, not cruel. Of course, the blame was only about ten percent on her. The other ninety percent was on the sniper who actually killed Isaac. If he or she had not pulled the trigger, Isaac would not have died.

That reminded Zero…

"Did they ever find out who shot Isaac?" he asked.

Esther slowly shook her head. "It could have been anyone. BOWCA agent, evil scientist, random civilian. There was nothing to go on. The bullet was lodged in Isaac's head and they couldn't get it out without completely destroying his head, which I didn't want. I know, it's selfish. We could have had a vital clue into finding out who killed my husband if I hadn't wanted to keep his body whole."

"It's not selfish at all," said Zero, being completely honest. "You just lost the person you loved most. Of course you'd want to keep him preserved."

Esther hesitated. "Thank you for listening. Or rather, thank you for pestering me over and over again."

Zero grinned sheepishly. "Well, I'm glad you told me."

"I'm glad too. You were right: I do feel better having told you."

At that moment, a nurse called Connie Cutler came bustling up. Although she was female, she was not considered an agent of BOWCA. BOWCA had many female nurses, but since they didn't actually go on missions or leave the ward most of the time, they were considered staff, rather than agents.

"It's time for your medication," she said. "Is your head hurting?"

Esther considered this. "Yes, it is. I've only just noticed."

"Then I must ask your friend-."

"Partner," corrected Esther and Zero at the same time.

"-your partner to leave," Connie finished.

Zero nodded and stood up, placing a hand on Esther's shoulder. "I'll be back soon."

As he started to walk away, Esther caught his wrist. "I was supposed to meet Ruth Summers this evening," she recalled. "But Connie said I need to stay in bed until at least tomorrow, so could you meet Ruth and apologise for me?"

"Of course."

Esther let go of Zero's wrist, and the British agent left the hospital ward, reflecting on what Esther had told him. The poor woman had gone through so much in the last two years. _No wonder she was so distant when I was assigned as her partner._

As he walked slowly back to his office, he made himself and Esther a promise: _I will find whoever killed Isaac and whoever leaked those secrets, whether they are the same person or not. I will get justice for Esther and Isaac, just you watch._

…

 **So that's what happened to Isaac :( Anyone else feeling sorry for Esther?**


	7. Ruth's First Day

**Author's Note: I have no idea what Gretchen's last name is so I made one up for her.**

…

Gretchen was working in Inspector Initials's office, sorting through papers and putting them into a filing cabinet. She was alone; Inspector Initials had gone to make a phone call. She kept twisting the golden ring on her finger. She hadn't stopped doing that since she got it; if she did, she might just think that it was all a beautiful dream.

When Ferb proposed yesterday, Gretchen thought she would either throw up or faint. Luckily, she did neither. As Ferb slipped the ring on her finger, she felt like she was floating on a cloud, soaring on a rainbow, and all with the man she loved at her side. Every time she looked at the ring, she felt the exhilaration that she had felt when Ferb gave it to her.

She remembered the first time she realised she had a crush on Ferb. It was when they were kids, that one summer, when they were doing the bi-monthly Zombie Apocalypse preparedness lecture that Candace interrupted. She had said, "There's nothing about zombies that I don't know."

To which Ferb had replied, "Did you know there's one standing behind you?"

That had made Gretchen laugh with everybody else, and it had opened her eyes to the fact that she had a crush on the British boy who barely ever talked.

"Excuse me?"

Gretchen lowered her papers and looked at the woman standing at the entrance to the office. She looked about the same age as Gretchen herself, with dark red hair in a long plait down to the small of her back. She was wearing black smart trousers, a white polo shirt, and a grey jacket.

"Can I help you?" Gretchen asked.

"Yes, I'm supposed to be meeting someone called Esther van Dyke but I don't know where I'm supposed to go."

"Ah, you're Ruth Summers, right?"

The woman nodded.

Gretchen stood up and smoothed down her orange skirt. She went to the woman and held out her hand. "I'm Gretchen Harris, Inspector Initials's personal intern."

Ruth shook her hand.

"Esther van Dyke was injured earlier today on a mission, but her partner, Agent Zero, is coming in her place."

"Is Miss van Dyke okay?" Ruth asked.

 _She's worried about Esther already and they haven't even met yet,_ Gretchen realised.

Aloud, she said, "She'll be right as rain tomorrow. Come, I'll take you to Agent Zero."

Gretchen walked out of the door, followed by an anxious Ruth. "Oh, I wouldn't want to inconvenience you…"

"It's okay. I was nearly done with my work, anyway."

Gretchen led Ruth through BOWCA's corridors, heading towards Agent Zero's office cubicle. When she reached it, she found it empty. "Ah. Maybe I can find James."

"James?"

"Sorry, James Williams. He might know where Zero is."

"Can I ask you a question?" Ruth asked as she trailed after Gretchen.

"Absolutely. How can I help?"

"How come you call Esther by her first name and Agent Zero by his title?"

Gretchen paused. "Esther's title is Agent Seven, and that's used officially by Inspector Initials in formal situations. Most agents, like Esther, prefer to be known informally as their first or last names. Some agents like Agent Zero go by just their title. In fact, I think only Inspector Initials knows Agent Zero's real name."

"If I get to be an agent, I think I'd like to be known by my first name."

"From what I've heard, you _are_ an agent," Gretchen said.

"Not officially." Ruth made a face. "I'm on probation, technically."

They made it to James's office. Gretchen peeked inside and felt her heart jump when she saw who was inside. Suppressing a mad grin, she knocked on the door. James came to the door. "Oh, hi Gretchen. Are you here for Ferb?"

Gretchen laughed. "For once, no. Though it would be nice to talk to him at work once in a while."

Ferb came to the door and smiled. "Hi Gretchen."

Gretchen felt herself blushing like an idiot. "Hey Ferb. Sorry, I can't talk right now. I wanted to ask James where Zero is."

"Last I heard, he was in the hospital visiting Esther," James said.

All of a sudden, there sounded a shrill scream. Immediately after that, the building began to shake, making everyone stumble.

"What's happening?" Ruth shouted fearfully.

James staggered to the door. "I have to find Esther and Zero and make sure they're okay!" he shouted, before running out of the cubicle.

No sooner had he left than a powerful wind picked up in the office. Ruth dived under the desk while Ferb and Gretchen clutched hands and pressed themselves against the wall, their hair whirling round their faces in the wind.

"What's causing this?" yelled Gretchen. "There shouldn't be wind indoors!"

"I know!" Ferb yelled back. "There has to be some kind of device making it happen!"

The building shook violently, sending Ferb and Gretchen tumbling to the floor. "We have to find out what's causing these tremors!" shouted Ferb. "Before someone gets hurt!"

…

 **I know everything's in parts but basically part two of the emergency is going to be next chapter :)**


	8. What's Happening?

**Author's Note: there will be some blood and death in this chapter, fair warning.**

…

Agent Two was huddled under his desk, texting his girlfriend, and trying to explain to her why he was going to be late for their date. She wasn't supposed to know about BOWCA—she believed he was an accountant—and he was terrible at making up excuses, but he couldn't exactly tell the truth: s _orry I won't be able to make it to dinner, my building is shaking and there's an unnatural wind in the air, trapping me and everyone else in the office._

 _Yeah, she's totally going to buy that._

Eventually, he settled for telling her that there was an emergency at work. Which, he decided, was technically not wrong.

"Daddy!" screeched a voice.

He turned to see a little girl with her blonde hair in two plaits come running blindly into the office, her gingham dress flapping about madly in the wind.

"Rosie! I thought I told you to stay in reception!"

The six-year-old girl tightly hugged him round his waist. "I was scared, Daddy!"

He picked her up just as the wind died down. He seized this opportunity to run out of his office but he immediately ran into someone. "James!"

"Stephen, are you okay?" James asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. You?"

"I was heading to the hospital wing to find Esther and Zero," said James worriedly. "But I decided to make sure there was nobody around here who was in trouble."

Another tremor shook the building, this one more forceful than the ones before. James and Stephen were knocked off their feet. Stephen curled himself around his daughter to protect her as they both landed.

"What's Inspector Initials doing about this?" demanded Stephen. "Are we evacuating or trying to find the source or what?"

"Inspector Initials isn't in the building," James answered. "Nobody has any idea where she is."

"Great!" snapped Stephen sarcastically. "So we have a missing leader and no orders!"

"A couple of agents I bumped into told me they're trying to find whatever's causing the tremors."

"Okay, are they tremors or is the building shaking?"

"What's the difference?"

"If it's a tremor, then that means it's originating from the ground. If the building's shaking, then that means something outside is shaking the building."

"Oh, well, in that case, nobody knows."

"That's _really_ helpful."

The wind picked back up again, stronger than before. "It's getting worse!" bellowed James above the noise of the wind. "I'm going to start an evacuation before the building comes down on our heads!"

"Can you take Rosie to safety?" Stephen asked. "I'm going to find the source of the wind."

James nodded. Stephen handed his daughter to James, telling her, "Be good for my friend, okay?"

"Okay Daddy," said Rosie, terrified.

Just as James ran off with Rosie, a man in a grey suit ran round the corner on the other side of the office.

"I need all available agents!" he coughed.

"I'm going to find out what's causing the wind," Stephen shouted back over the wind. "What's happened?"

"The hospital wing's ceiling collapsed!"

…

Zero became acutely aware of the pounding in his head just moments after he woke up. He was lying on the floor of the hospital wing; he had run back into the ward to protect Esther when the wind picked up. He tried to sit up but he found a large piece of stone over his chest. It wasn't actually touching him, so he was in no danger of being crushed, but it was prohibiting him from moving. He shoved at it for a full minute, but with no give. His legs scrabbled as he pushed at the stone with all his strength but it was too heavy.

He twisted his head around to try and catch sight of anybody else. A little way off, lying under a large slab of stone, was Connie Cutler. There was a large pool of blood under her head. To Zero's shock and dismay, she was dead.

Trying to put his grief aside in order to escape, Zero had another go at trying to get the stone off him but once again his effort was fruitless. This time it was because his distress at Connie's death and his panic that he might not get out alive overwhelmed him and all he could do was flap his limbs around and scream for help.

He started to hyperventilate as his attempts to escape became wilder. His desperate need to find Esther was all that drove him now. If Connie had been able to get out of the way of something falling and yet had still died, Esther, who had been lying in a bed with almost zero mobility, was in serious danger.

His head moved wildly as he tried desperately to seek Esther's position. He tried calling her name but there was no reply. Either she was knocked out, unable to respond for some other reason…or worse…

Zero firmly pushed the thought out of his mind. Esther _had_ to be okay. He wouldn't be able to bear losing her. Many people had teased him over the years for having a crush on BOWCA's best agent. He had denied the rumours, but now he realised he may actually have feelings for Esther. After all, how else would he explain the fact that he wouldn't be able to live if she died? Maybe those were romantic feelings he had for her after all.

…

 **Does anyone else ship Esther/Zero? Why is Esther not answering? Is she dead? Probably not, but with me, you never know! I:}**


	9. Hospital Peril

**Author's Note: more mentions of blood and death in this chapter.**

…

Stephen Bush, AKA Agent Two, was running out of options. He had searched every inch of the office floor, and there was no sign of anything that could be used to make such a strong gale. Worse, the tremors were getting more forceful and destructive by the minute: Stephen was getting more terrified with every passing minute that the building was going to collapse on top of him.

…

Ferb and Gretchen, holding hands, ran past the agent who had just delivered the news, and headed straight to the hospital wing to help. The ceiling shuddered over their heads, the lamps swinging wildly, as more tremors shook the building. Ferb was afraid that soon the office floor's ceiling was going to follow the hospital ceiling in collapsing. He gripped his fiancée's hand tighter for reassurance.

…

Everything was dark. She had dived under a bed when the ceiling collapsed but something had fallen on top of the bed and crushed the legs almost completely. There was very little room between the bottom of the bed and the floor, and if the bed sunk any more, she would get crushed. She was breathing thinly, though there was no lack of oxygen, and she didn't dare try to get out for fear of the thing crushing her.

…

Trying desperately not to look at Connie's body, Zero struggled with the rock for what must have been the twentieth time. He had managed to push it a few centimetres down his chest, but he still couldn't wriggle out, though he was getting close. However, the pain in his head was getting worse and he was afraid that if he passed out, he would lose his chance to help Esther and if he lost that chance…there was the possibility that Esther wouldn't make it. So though it nearly made him throw up, he continued to push at the rock, his movements slowly getting more sluggish.

…

Ruth Summers wasn't sure if she still wanted to work at BOWCA. Having seen what disasters BOWCA could bring to people, she wasn't sure if she was brave enough to continue. As she looked for the exit to get out of there, she saw a part of the ceiling begin to collapse right in front of her. A man with a limp was hobbling under it, unaware of the danger. Just before the heavy stone fell, Ruth pushed all thought of saving herself out of her mind and lunged for the man. She pushed him over and out of the way, flinching when the heavy stone landed behind them. The man couldn't thank her enough.

…

Still holding Stephen's daughter Rosie, James rushed into the hospital ward and immediately turned away so that Rosie couldn't

see Connie Cutler's dead body. Fighting the urge to vomit, he placed Rosie down on the right side of the door and told her to stay there and to not either come in or look in. The six-year-old girl nodded, clearly terrified. Remembering a lollipop that he had bought earlier that day, he took it out of his pocket and gave it to Rosie so that she would have something to distract her.

Then he caught sight of one of the two people he was looking for. "Zero!"

He threw himself down by his friend's side. Zero's chest was trapped underneath a large piece of stone. Zero himself had passed out. James pushed his feet against a larger piece of debris and used this to give himself more force as he pushed with all his might at the piece of debris.

All of a sudden, Zero muttered, "…Esther…", giving James a fright. "…Esther…"

James decided to find Esther. After all, Zero's life was not in immediate danger. Esther's might be. So he reluctantly left his friend's side and searched around the left side of the ward, purposefully avoiding Connie's body. He found a large piece of stone on top of a bed, so he knelt down beside it and tapped on the metal framework.

At that moment, Ferb and Gretchen ran into the ward. James looked up at them and signalled for them to help Zero. Gretchen ran to the sink in the corner and threw up. The colour of Ferb's face was looking a lot like his hair. James knew they'd seen Connie.

He went back to tapping. In Morse Code—something every BOWCA agent was taught—he tapped dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot. Morse Code for SOS.

A single moment later, he felt someone tap dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot back. "Esther?" he called softly into the bed.

"James…?" came a weak voice back. "It's Esther! Can you get me out?"

"Stay there," he ordered.

It was only Esther's sarcastic reply that made him realise how stupid that order was. "Aw man, I was hoping to go get a cup of tea."

James craned his head round and found that Ferb and Gretchen had managed to get the stone off Zero, who was still unconscious. He beckoned Ferb and Gretchen over. "I need you two to lift up the bed as much as possible."

The two agents complied. Straining against the weight of the piece of stone, they lifted the bed a few centimetres. James reached under the bed and located a person. A hand gripped his, and James helped the person out just before Ferb and Gretchen let go of the bed with a crash.

"Esther, are you okay?"

" _Now_ my back hurts," was Esther's reply, making James chuckle despite himself.

He turned to Ferb. "Did you see a little girl as you came in?"

"Blonde-haired six-year-old?"

"How many other little girls did you see?"

"Good point. What about her?"

"I need you to get her to safety," James commanded. "Take her to reception, then you and Gretchen need to get out of here."

Ferb nodded. Taking his fiancée's hand, he and Gretchen left the room. Esther knelt down beside Zero. "Is he okay?" she asked James.

He nodded. "He's just been knocked out. His life isn't in danger."

 _Talk about déjà vu._

"But we need to get out of here," added James. "It isn't safe."

Esther and James both slung one of Zero's arms over their shoulders and headed out.

…

 **Lol don't worry guys, Zero will be fine. Probably. Man, I'm doing that a lot recently, aren't I?**


	10. The Wind Causes Problems

**One more OC introduced in this chapter; she will most likely be the last one. I know some people (me) sometimes get confused with a high number of OCs ;P**

…

Agent Ten was the second female agent of BOWCA, behind Esther van Dyke, specialising in communications and analysis, specifically generating options in various field situations.

However, the only analysis running through her mind as she sheltered by the window outside her office was _where the hell is this wind coming from?!_

The windows at BOWCA were large single panes of glass, not easily shattered. That was why Robin was hiding by them; she was confident that she would be in no danger.

That would turn out to be a mistake.

Someone came running up to her. She could hear the footsteps. "Are you okay?" shouted a familiar man's voice over the wind.

She turned her head and saw the familiar man in a grey suit. As she turned, he saw her face. "Robin! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Stephen."

"You don't need help?"

"Stephen, there are probably other people who need your help more than me."

"If-if you're sure."

"I am." She gave a smile. "I'll be fine."

He also smiled briefly. "Stay safe, Robin."

"You too, Stephen."

He left. Immediately after that, the wind increased in strength. Robin pressed herself against the side pane of the window with her legs stretched out to the other side pane, her arms held tightly against her chest and her eyes tightly shut. Her face was turned away from the wind.

She heard a crash and turned her head back. It was lucky she did; she screamed as she saw a desk come flying towards her. She barely reacted in time; she threw herself to the side. The desk just missed her. It smashed the glass window and was flung out of sight. Robin found herself slipping out the window after it. Her legs and pelvis were hanging out the smashed window while her torso was on the carpet. Her hands reached out and clutched onto the scratchy beige carpet. It wasn't much of a handhold but it was enough to stop herself from falling.

However, the wind was blowing as hard as ever. Robin tightly closed her eyes again and turned her head to the side to prevent the gale from blowing in her face. She could feel her fingernails slipping. She tried to get a better handhold but every time she let go with one hand, she would immediately panic that she was about to fall, so she stopped and hung on. Every attempt to push herself back in using her feet and/or hands failed; the wind kept pushing her back. So she just hung on as hard as she could, pressing herself as low to the ground as possible. She desperately hoped someone would come and help her soon; she didn't know how long she would be able to hang on like this for.

…

Ruth staggered around in search of the exit. _How hard can it be to label your fire exits clearly?_ she thought, annoyed.

Then she accidentally bumped into a man coming from the other direction. He looked both distressed and determined. "Do you know where the exit is?" Ruth asked him.

The man looked at her. "I'm sorry, but I need your help. Is that okay?"

"Um…" Ruth knew she would rather get out of there but this man needed her help and if she wanted to call herself a BOWCA agent, she would have to help him. "Sure."

"Good."

The man took her wrist and pulled her in the direction he had just come from. "Where are we going?"

For some reason, the man answered a completely different question: "I'm Stephen Bush. Agent Two."

"Um, I'm Ruth Summers. I haven't been assigned a title yet."

"Oh, you're the trainee Esther is supposed to train."

Ruth wasn't sure she liked being called a trainee; after all, as Gretchen had pointed out, technically Ruth was an agent of BOWCA, she was just on probation.

Instead of saying any of this aloud, however, she asked her question again: "Where are we going?"

This time, Stephen answered her question. "I think I've found what's causing the wind. If we can shut it off-."

He broke off and leapt to the ground. As Ruth had still been holding his hand, she tumbled with him. No sooner had they fallen than the wind picked back up, blowing hard just above them. Ruth and Stephen screwed their eyes shut against the hard gale. Both were finding it hard to breathe, since they were both facing the way the wind was coming.

"If we can shut it off, we can stop the wind from causing any more damage and let someone find what's causing the tremors!" Stephen shouted into the wind.

"The rescue teams need more time to do their stuff too!" added Ruth.

"I think I've found it. It's in the air vents somewhere!"

Ruth squinted upwards. She could just about see the barred vent above their heads. She looked across at Stephen, who pointed through the wind at the vent that Ruth had spotted earlier. He yelled something to Ruth but the wind had grown even stronger and his words were lost. However, Ruth was fairly good at lip reading, and she was sure he had said, _that one!_

Ruth began crawling until she was directly under the vent in the ceiling. Then she crawled a little further and stood up. The lack of wind behind the vent confirmed Stephen's theory: the wind was indeed coming from this vent. Now all Ruth had to do was find the machine, or whatever it was, and shut it down.

…

 **So we have Robin, in a state of peril; and Ruth, who may be able to save the day! Go ladies! Oh, wait...**


	11. Gale Force

**Will anyone save Robin? Can Ruth save the day? What about Esther, Zero, and James? And did Ferb and Gretchen manage to get Rosie to safety? Find out the answers to all these questions in either this chapter or the next one.**

…

Zero woke up as Esther and James were carrying him out of the medical bay.

"What…?"

He looked to his left and saw the person he had been worrying about. "Esther! You're okay!"

"Yes, thanks to James."

She shot an admiring look at James, who wasn't paying attention. Zero caught this look and couldn't help feeling jealous. He had wanted to be the one to rescue Esther. Now Esther might have feelings for James.

"Ferb and Gretchen saved you," Esther told Zero. "They got the piece of stone off you."

"Where are they now?"

A scream interrupted their conversation. Everyone jumped and looked upwards.

"I got it!" Ferb's voice yelled from somewhere in the distance.

"Well, there's Ferb," Esther stated.

"Come on," said James. "We need to get everyone out."

…

Leaving the little girl, Rosie, with Gretchen, Ferb raced to find the source of the scream. He almost wished the voice would scream again—even though that scream had been one of the most chilling things he had ever heard—so that he could locate the person quicker.

It sounded like a female scream. It couldn't have been Esther or Gretchen and he was sure it didn't sound like Ruth Summers, so Ferb was wondering who it could have been. He didn't know of any other female agents at BOWCA, though of course it might have been a member of staff.

The wind had died down to a slightly heavy breeze, though a tremor shook the building as Ferb made his way over to where the scream came from. He stumbled but maintained his footing and carried on, knowing that someone needed him.

He found a large, shattered window with a woman hanging out of it. Her legs and lower body were hanging out of the window while her torso was flat against the ground and her hands clutched the carpet tightly. She was only moments from falling. Ferb darted forwards and gripped the woman's wrists.

"Let go," he said.

She gave him a look. That was when Ferb recognised her. _Of course! Robin! I can't believe I forgot about Robin!_

Robin looked scared but she did as Ferb told her to do. She let out a gasp as her wrists slipped out of Ferb's hands but the green-haired man just as quickly seized her hands and pulled Robin onto solid ground. No sooner had he done that than the wind flared up and blew at almost a hurricane level. Ferb and Robin were pushed up against a non-shattered window. They both braced themselves, eyes tightly shut, as the hurricane flattened them against the window. Both agents prayed that the window was strong enough to withstand the attack, for both their sakes.

…

Ruth was now halfway through the vent but she couldn't see much for the wind whistling in her face. As soon as she had unscrewed the vent, the wind had changed to hurricane level. Ruth was under the impression that the vent had been filtering the worst of the wind out of the office. Stephen had given her a boost but now Ruth couldn't even see Stephen through the wind.

She was finding it hard to breathe; the wind was blowing directly into her face. She was relying on just the strength in her torso and arms. Using this strength, she just about managed to climb into the vent and to the side, where the wind wasn't so bad. She surveyed the inside of the vent. It was just large enough to hold her if she crawled on her hands and knees. She looked down. The wind must have thrown Stephen into the wall; he was lying at the base of it with his eyes closed. He wasn't moving. Ruth knew he was unconscious because his eyes were only lightly closed. If he was awake, his eyes would be tight shut, trying to keep the wind out of them.

In the direction the wind was coming from, she could just about see a metallic looking machine. _That must be where the wind is coming from._

Ruth crawled over the opening and, straining against the wind, made her way over to the machine. She grabbed hold of it with one hand to stop herself from flying away. With some difficulty, she took off her left blue pump and smashed it into the machine over and over again like a maniac until she heard a _kaput_ sound and the machine shuddered off, making the wind abruptly stop.

…

Stephen jerked awake. His subconscious must have detected that the wind had died down; he woke up just as it stopped. He pushed himself onto his elbows and looked up at the vent. Ruth lightly dropped down and landed like a cat on the carpet.

"Did you stop the wind?" Stephen's voice came out as a heaving gasp from his lack of oxygen.

Ruth held out her hand to Stephen, who took it. Ruth helped Agent Two to his feet.

"Yes, yes I did." Ruth looked very pleased with herself, if a little shaken. "There was a weird machine up there and I hit it with my shoe until it broke."

Stephen suddenly noticed that she was only wearing one shoe. The other was dangling in her hand. "Wow," was all he could say. "And that made the wind stop?"

"Yes. Now maybe some efforts to find what's causing the tremors can be made."

As if on cue, a massive tremor shook the building. It felt more like an earthquake. Stephen clutched the wall of the office cubicle while Ruth staggered backwards and fell against the printer.

"We seriously need someone to stop these earthquakes," stated Ruth as the ceiling shuddered once more. "Or this building is going to come down on top of us."

…

 **So one of the dangers has been resolved: the wind! Next chapter, the source of the earthquakes is revealed.**


	12. James's Fight

**MAN this chapter is late…sorry! I had to focus on my main line of stories but I really love this story so I'll try and focus on it a bit more :)**

…

James edged down the dark, chilly basement corridor, torch in hand. He had left Esther to take care of Zero while he went ahead to try and find out where the tremors were coming from. But more importantly—as Stephen had told him—he needed to find out whether the tremors were originating from the ground or from outside. And as he had checked outside a few times, he knew it must be coming from the ground.

James unconsciously wondered if his grey suit still looked good and groaned when he realised. _This isn't the time, Williams,_ he scolded himself. _You're not about to step onto a red carpet, you're trying to prevent anyone else from getting hurt by the earthquakes._

All of a sudden, his torch light went out, leaving him entirely in the pitch black. _Great,_ he thought, hitting it against his palm. _Could this be any more cliché?_

He flung the torch away and closed his eyes, holding his hands in front of him like a blind man. He found that his reflexes were always better when he couldn't see, so he carried on slowly, his sharp hearing alert for any noises.

He heard something. A slight whoosh sound of someone moving quickly. It came from his right. James leapt up and felt someone pass underneath him rather fast. As he came back down, James felt his foot connect with something, so he used it to push off and land on the ground, his eyes open now. He adopted a battle stance, listening hard.

He heard the whistle of wind to his left. He jumped backwards but he misjudged both the speed and the placement of the blow. What felt like a fist slammed into James's arm, deadening it instantly. Twisting, he fell back with a yell of pain and hit his head hard on the brick wall, drawing blood on his forehead. Clutching his sore arm, James determinedly stood and managed to turn to avoid another hit. But immediately after that, what felt like a foot impacted his diaphragm, winding him badly. James took a step backwards and bent over, breathing heavily.

 _This is hopeless,_ he thought. _I can't fight something I can't see…_

"Who are you?" he yelled into the darkness. "Show yourself so we can fight fairly!"

There was a husky noise that sounded like a laugh, before a low voice said, "Where would be the fun in that?"

Immediately, something hit James from behind and sent him down on his front. What felt like a foot pressed down on his back, preventing him from getting up and making him let out an "oof!" sound.

"You're just a little, insignificant bug," sneered the voice. The force on James's back increased. "About to be crushed."

Glaring, James twisted his leg around his attacker's leg and pushed hard, sending the attacker spinning away. James rolled over and pushed himself to his feet.

"Sometimes bugs can fight back," he said with a smug grin.

The darkness seemed to shimmer for a moment. Then James performed a spinning kick to the corner where he thought he had sent the attacker. However, something grabbed his foot and actually lifted him up using it. The attacker threw James right over his head. The BOWCA agent hit the wall back-first with a yell of pain. He screwed his eyes shut, trying to find the strength to stand again, before he heard the unmistakable cock of a gun hammer.

When the gunshot went off, James involuntarily let out what sounded to him like a yelp, but it took him at least ten seconds to realise that he felt no sharp pain. He had not been shot.

Opening his eyes and finding himself still unable to see, he pressed himself against the wall, feeling an emotion that he hadn't felt in a long time: fear.

Fear of the unknown. At this precise moment, James had clearly not been shot, but a gun had gone off and, since there was no light, he didn't know what had happened to the attacker, who hadn't talked or made a sound since the gunshot went off. The only thing James feared was the unknown: not knowing what had happened. Uncertainty. Unsureness. That was what he was feeling now.

Until the corridor suddenly flooded with light. James initially had to squint against the bright light, but when he got used to it, he saw his saviour. Standing on the stairs James himself had come down just ten minutes before was Stephen Bush, holding a smoking gun. Behind him stood a young woman whom James had only seen in a photo: Ruth Summers. There was no sign of anyone else.

James rolled into a sitting position. He tilted his head back and leant it against the wall, breathing heavily. He closed his eyes, trying to recover.

Passing the gun to Ruth, Stephen hurried down the steps as quickly as he could. He knelt down beside his friend and checked him over. The wound on James's forehead was leaking blood down the right side of his face but it was away from his eye and it seemed to be slowing so Stephen ignored that for the moment. James didn't open his eyes.

"James, what on earth happened?" Stephen asked, examining James's arm.

"I don't know," wheezed James. "There was a guy attacking me in the dark. I didn't see him but he kicked my butt."

"He must have been able to see in the dark," realised Stephen.

James winced as Stephen accidentally touched his lower chest. Stephen put his arm under James's and around the back of his chest. "Come on," he said. "Let's get out of here."

As they headed towards the stairs, Ruth picked something up from the floor. It looked to be slightly crushed night-vision goggles. _That was how he was able to see in the dark,_ Ruth said to herself.

She turned to her left and saw that the basement corridor led off to a corner. It looked like there was a trail of blood leading around that corner. She thought about calling James and Stephen and going to investigate, but she knew that James was hurt.

So she decided to investigate all on her own. After all, not only would it probably lead her to James's assailant, but also perhaps to the machine causing the tremors.

…

 **Worth the wait? XD idk, but I do love this story so I'll try and update it more quickly next time**


	13. The End Of The Earthquakes

**Watch out for cute Rosie moments in this chapter.**

...

The wind had finally died down. Robin and Ferb picked themselves up from the floor by the window and looked around. "At least that's stopped," Ferb sighed in relief.

"Yeah," agreed Robin. "We should probably check with the others."

"Yeah, and I need to find Gretchen."

They headed off round the corner and saw Esther and Zero coming the opposite way. The two pairs ran towards each other and met in the middle.

"Have you seen James?" asked Esther worriedly.

"No. Should we have?" Robin asked.

"He left us twenty minutes ago and we haven't seen him since."

Zero shot an annoyed look at the floor. If only he hadn't got himself knocked out; he could have saved Esther and she wouldn't have feelings for James. _There's no proof that she does have feelings for James,_ his inner voice reminded him.

"He just has a history of doing reckless things," Esther added. "I really worry about him when he goes off on his own like that because I know he can get into a lot of trouble on his own."

Even Zero's inner voice had no words of comfort for that. He gave the photocopier a glare and felt glad that nobody was paying attention to him.

"Have you guys seen Gretchen and Rosie?" Ferb asked.

"Gretchen said they were waiting for you by reception," answered Zero, hiding his grumpy mood from his voice. "But when we got there, they weren't there."

"Okay…" Ferb tried to think. "So we have James missing, nobody knows where Gretchen or Rosie are, and Stephen and Ruth have been off-grid for a while?"

"Yeah, ever since they stopped the wind," said Esther.

"Hold on." Robin frowned. "Stephen and Ruth stopped the wind?"

"Ruth did," Zero corrected her. "They bumped into us just after James went missing and they told us Ruth stopped the wind. Apparently, there was a machine in the vents."

"That makes sense," nodded Robin. "That explains how the wind was distributed across the whole office floor."

At that moment, the floor began to shake violently. Esther stumbled into Zero, Ferb fell against the wall, and Robin spread her arms and legs to keep her balance.

…

Over on the other side of the office, Gretchen stumbled, still carrying Rosie. The little girl gave a wail just as the floor stopped shaking.

"It's okay, sweetie," Gretchen said to Rosie. "It's okay. We're going to find your daddy now, okay?"

"Okay," replied the small voice.

Gretchen began walking again, trying to find Stephen or Ruth or anyone else. To keep the child's mind off their predicament, Gretchen asked, "What do you like to do with your daddy?"

Rosie immediately brightened up. "Daddy takes me to the lake on Sundays and we sail on our boat!"

"A boat, that sounds nice," smiled Gretchen.

"It's called the Sweet Susan," proclaimed Rosie. "Daddy says it's named after Granny."

Gretchen felt her heart warm just a little bit. "That's really nice, Rosie."

"Granny used to make sweets for me," Rosie said, making a face as if enjoying one of said sweets. "We made them with sugar and other stuff. When Granny went to this place called heaven, she kept sending Daddy sweets and he gave them to me from her."

Gretchen's heart broke just a little at the amazingly heart-warming thing that Stephen was doing for this little girl. "That's great, Rosie."

"She hasn't come back from heaven, though," said Rosie thoughtfully. "Daddy says she likes it there so much that she's staying there. I want to go to heaven one day."

"One day you will," Gretchen said. "That's a promise. And when you do, you can see your granny again. But it won't be for many years, understand?"

"Daddy explained it to me," Rosie stated, but what exactly Stephen had explained to Rosie was never revealed; at that moment, there was a final tremor, and this one knocked Gretchen right off her feet. She hit the wall head-first and was immediately knocked out.

…

Ruth knew she had made a mistake within ten seconds. First, it was almost completely dark round the corner. She wished she had brought the night-vision goggles, but even if they hadn't been broken, she probably wouldn't have known how to work them.

Second, she came face-to-face with a huge, menacing-looking machine and a guy dressed in black.

She gave a little gasp and pressed herself against the wall. Luckily, the guy hadn't seen her. She heard him muttering to himself, "Gotta check for any tampering."

She edged closer to him while keeping to the wall, picking up a large and heavy wrench which was leaning against the wall. When she was near enough, she leapt out and hit the guy over the head with the wrench, making him crumple. Then, just as she had with the wind machine, she attacked the tremor machine with the wrench and all her strength. The floor shook one final time before becoming still.

Someone ran around the corner. Ruth tensed and clutched the wrench so tightly that her knuckles went white but it turned out to be an agent she had never met before. She did recognise him from a photo that she had been shown, though. Agent Zero.

The experienced agent had a torch, and Ruth saw the beam swing from the knocked-out guy to the smashed-up machine. "You're Ruth Summers?" was all he said.

Ruth nodded hurriedly.

"Good job."

Zero gently took the wrench from her and set it down on the ground. Then he swung his torch onto the face of the man who had been knocked out. Ruth didn't recognise him but Zero did.

"Professor Daniel Bannister."

...

 **THE PLOT THICKENS!**


	14. Aftermath

Since the whole ordeal was over, everybody was trying to relax.

Stephen had been reunited with Rosie after the latter went running to find help for the knocked-out Gretchen. Stephen was now sitting on a chair outside the cell containing their prisoner, and the six-year-old girl was sitting on her father's lap. Neither of them had said a word in a while. Stephen was simply cuddling his daughter both protectively and reassuringly.

Ruth was sat on the chair next to him, trying to comprehend what she had just done. She had just taken out not only the wind machine but the tremor machine as well. And she wasn't even an agent yet.

Gretchen was sitting in the chair opposite them and to the right. She had her head back and her eyes closed, an ice pack resting on her forehead, where she had hit her head.

Everybody else had gone to survey the damage or search for anybody else in the building.

James was the first to return. He flopped into a chair next to Gretchen and leant back like she was doing, sighing. "Inspector Initials has gone," he informed Stephen and Gretchen. "Protocol dictates that in an emergency like what we just went through, BOWCA's leader has to evacuate straight away and go to a random one of eleven safehouses so that nobody except her or him knows where she or he is. And since we don't know where Inspector Initials is and we have no way of contacting her after the safehouse communication line was damaged in the attack, we can't tell her that everything has calmed down now. And since we can't do _that_ , we're leaderless."

Gretchen and Stephen exchanged a worried look.

"Nobody else is here," Esther said as she and Zero came back around the corner with Ferb and Robin behind them. "Everyone's out."

"We can't tell them to come back," James mused. "Not with Inspector Initials off-grid."

Esther suddenly caught sight of Ruth sitting on the chair. She walked forwards and held out her hand. "Ruth Summers? I'm Esther van Dyke. I'm very sorry I couldn't greet you today."

Ruth stood up, smiled, and shook Esther's hand. "It's absolutely fine. It wasn't your fault you got hurt on the mission."

Esther's smile turned slightly sad. "I just wish we were meeting under better circumstances."

"Who's our leader now?" Stephen asked once everyone had sat down.

"James," Zero answered immediately.

James was taken aback. "What? Why me? I'm not the highest ranking agent here."

"No, but you're the most sensible, the most responsible, and the best leader out of all of us," Esther contributed. "You know what you're doing. You joined this organisation before _Isaac_ , for goodness sake. I'd be proud to serve under you as a leader, even if only for a few days."

The others muttered their agreement. James couldn't stop a smile coming onto his face. "Thank you. I will not fail the role you have given me."

"We're sure you won't," Ferb said. "Now, what are we going to do now?"

"We have a suspect in an interrogation room," Robin said dryly. "I think it's fairly obvious what we're going to do now."

"Interrogate the suspect," James said, nodding. He looked towards Esther. "That's your area of expertise, van Dyke."

Esther chuckled and looked down at the ground. "I think you'd better do it," she said. "My area of interrogation skill is getting people to confess to things. We already know Bannister is behind the attacks; Ruth caught him red-handed. We just need to know why."

"What if he decides to play dumb and not confess?" James asked.

"Then I can step in," grinned Esther.

James smirked. "Fair enough."

He opened the door to the interrogation room but hesitated. Then he closed the door again. "I think I'll prepare some questions for him so I can appear more knowledgeable than I am. Maybe it'll get him nervous." He put on a disbelieving look. "Yeah, right."

Esther let out a short laugh. "You go ahead. Is it okay if I go in there in a minute and check out what we're up against?"

"You go ahead." James flashed a quick smile at her before he headed off down the corridor.

Robin sighed loudly and leant back in her chair. "I can't believe we're stuck in this," she said. "How did this even happen?"

Ruth stared at her. "I don't think we've met," she said.

"Oh right." Robin sat upright. "I'm Maria Robinson but everyone calls me Robin."

"I'm Ruth."

"Okay, now that we're acquainted, back to my question: how did this happen?"

"That's the point of an interrogation, Robin," Gretchen said. "That's what we're hopefully going to find out." She shot a look at Esther, who stood up and walked straight into the interrogation room.

Daniel Bannister was sat back in his chair. His handcuffed hands were behind his head. Overall, he looked very relaxed.

"You look comfortable," remarked Esther, folding her arms.

"Well, one must do what one must do to find relaxation in stressful environments," replied Bannister.

"Why?" Esther demanded. "You nearly destroyed our headquarters. I'm not going to attempt to find out how you did that but what I want to know is why you're so relaxed."

"Because I know something you don't," sang Bannister. "And it's going to tear your little friendship group apart."

"What are you insinuating?"

"I'm not insinuating anything," Bannister replied, grinning inanely. "I'm stating outright: there's a traitor in your little group out there, and I know who it is."

Esther felt a stab of nausea hit her but she just took a deep breath, said, "I will not be swayed by your pathetic attempts to unnerve me," and left the room.

His words were replaying in her head, despite her attempts to block them out: _there's a traitor in your little group out there, and I know who it is._ She was almost sure that Bannister was making it up to psych her out, but a part of her brain was worried that he was telling the truth.

 _What if the traitor he mentioned was the one who sold the secrets to America and got my husband killed?_


	15. The Interrogation

James returned about ten minutes after Esther left the interrogation room. As he was about to enter, Esther said, "Watch out. He's very relaxed."

"Is he?" James asked, mildly amused. "Let's change that, shall we?"

He entered the interrogation room to find Bannister in the exact same position he had been in when Esther had come in. "Comfy?" he inquired.

"Yep," replied Bannister, yawning.

That made James angry. He hit the table hard with his palms, creating a loud noise that made Bannister jerk upright. "Don't play games with me," James snarled. "You could have killed every BOWCA agent in this facility. Why?"

"Why what?" Bannister asked calmly.

 _"_ _Why did you almost kill every BOWCA agent in this facility?"_ yelled James. "Why did you use the two machines and why did you attack me in the corridor?"

"I would have thought the last one was obvious," said Bannister, looking at his nails. "You were about to discover my plot."

"So you used night vision goggles to fight me, literally destroying any chance that had of being a fair fight."

Bannister frowned, looking genuinely confused. "Why would it be a fair fight? I'm a villain."

"No kidding," scoffed James. "Okay, so let's work backwards: why did you use the wind machine and the tremor machine?"

"I wanted to spread terror and do some damage at the same time." Bannister shrugged, a smug grin on his face. "Looks like it worked, didn't it?"

"You killed someone!" James yelled suddenly.

Bannister's smug look vanished and he sat up straighter, frowning. "What?"

"Connie Cutler. She was a nurse, working in the hospital when it collapsed."

"The hospital collapsed?"

"The ceiling caved in, trapping people who were in there." James felt a lump rise in his throat. "Connie was hit by a falling piece of stone and killed instantly."

Bannister looked away at the wall in shock. "I-I never meant to…to _kill_ anyone…"

"What did you think was going to happen?" James shouted angrily. "You set tremors loose on the building! It was a miracle no other ceilings collapsed!"

Bannister looked like he was having an existential crisis.

"I hope you realise her blood is on your hands," James snarled. "It's because of you that she's dead."

Bannister looked back up at James and a smirk came onto his face. "You liked Connie?"

"I didn't really know her but that's beside the point," James snapped. "You killed a person, and that's what I'm furious about. Why did you do it?"

"It's a secret," grinned Bannister.

James glared at the evil scientist. "Why is it a secret?"

"Because everyone needs secrets." Bannister raised an eyebrow, still with the smug look on his face. "Right, Agent Seven?"

"What do you-?" James suddenly took a staggering step back like he'd been punched in the stomach.

Esther, who was watching outside, frowned. "What does that mean?" she asked aloud.

"Beats me," said Robin, shrugging.

"Maybe Bannister knows something about James that we don't," Zero suggested.

"But what could that be?" Esther muttered.

Back in the cell, James slammed his fist on the table. "You don't get to mention that."

Delighted to have unnerved James, Bannister pressed, "But it eats at you, doesn't it? What you did."

"That's enough," James snarled.

"It sometimes keeps you up at night, doesn't it?" Bannister continued relentlessly. "The fact that what you did caused the death of a person."

James suddenly grabbed Bannister's collar and pulled him over the table, his other fist drawn back like he was about to hit Bannister. "Don't ever mention that again," he said softly and dangerously. "Or I will personally make sure the rest of your miserable existence is a living hell."

James flung Bannister back into his chair. The evil scientist was still grinning, to James's severe annoyance. "Don't forget, I could tell everybody. I know exactly what you did. What would they think of you then?"

"What do you want?" snarled James.

"I want to be let go and given immunity from the law until the day I die."

"Not going to happen," James replied sharply. "I don't care if you tell everybody. I'm not having your psychotic butt roaming the streets free."

With that, he turned and stormed out of the interrogation room. Everyone else tensed when he came outside but all he did was take a deep breath and let a look of part-relief part-terror settle on his face.

"Are you okay?" Zero asked him.

James nodded. "I'm fine. He just…caught me off-guard."

"At least we know why he did it," Gretchen offered.

Everyone stared at her. "What?" said Ferb, confused.

Gretchen frowned. "Didn't he say he wanted to spread terror and do some damage at the same time?"

"I thought that was just the answer for why he used the machines," Esther said with a puzzle look at James.

"If you think about it, it's also a reason as to why he attacked us," Agent Seven said thoughtfully. "I mean, he's a villain. He doesn't need a strong reason to attack us. To spread terror is enough for some villains."

"So we're agreed, then?" Esther said. "We know why Bannister did what he did?"

Everyone nodded or made noises of agreement.

"Then if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and write up a report about the interrogation," James said.

He headed off down the corridor. Esther jumped up and hurried to catch up with him. She stopped him at the other end of the corridor, well out of earshot of the others.

"If you're going to ask me about the secret Bannister mentioned-."

"I was going to say that I respect that you have secrets," Esther interrupted. "There probably isn't a single BOWCA agent who doesn't have some kind of secret in their past, me included. All I wanted to tell you is that if it ever becomes too much and you feel you have to tell someone, I'm here and I will listen and I will not judge you. Okay?"

James didn't seem able to look her in the eye. "Thank you, Esther. Your friendship is very valuable to me."

Esther smiled and walked back down the corridor to the others. James watched her go, wishing with all his heart that he could tell Esther his secret, but he knew that she would hate him if he did.

...

 **WHAT IS JAMES'S SECRET? I hear you yell I:} don't worry, we will find out before the end of the story I:}**


	16. Investigate

Esther watched James leave before she headed straight to the records room, where all the records were kept of information and every instance in which information had been given out. She looked through the records of the latter until she found the one she was looking for.

 **Date: 4** **th** **May 2012**

 **Information: CLASSIFIED**

 **Agents Given To:**

Esther was about to read the list of names when she sensed someone come into the doorway of the records room, even though she had her back to the door. When she turned, she found this to be correct: her partner was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded. "Whatcha doin'?" he asked.

"I have to solve this one, Zero," Esther said, turning back to the record, but her eyes became fixed on the window frame in front of her. "It won't leave me. Now that Bannister's brought it up again, it won't leave me alone. I have to solve it. For Isaac."

Zero came further into the room and knelt beside Esther. "You really loved Isaac, didn't you?"

"Of course." Esther didn't think of questioning or challenging Zero's rather obvious query. "He literally made me the person I am today. Even if we hadn't been romantically involved, I would have said I loved him. He was…well…he was basically the perfect guy. And I know people say they don't exist, but Isaac really was perfect."

"I see."

Zero looked down at the floor. He felt disappointed; if he had been hoping for a chance to be with Esther, it was gone now. Isaac had been "the perfect guy" and Zero was just a dull, unheroic, sometimes cantankerous agent. If given the chance, he would cherish Esther and care for her always, but he couldn't compete with "the perfect guy", even if he was dead. He wished Isaac had never existed. Perhaps then Zero would have had a chance.

Then Zero scolded himself for thinking ill of Isaac. He had helped make Esther into…well…Esther. In fact, according to her own story, Esther would never have even joined BOWCA without him. Then Zero would definitely never have even MET Esther, and just for knowing her, he was grateful.

"So you want to figure out who killed Isaac," Zero stated. "And who really leaked the information."

"If they're the same person," muttered Esther ominously as she looked back down at the file.

 **Agents Given To:**

Stephen Bush

Ferb Fletcher

Maria Robinson

Isaac Brandt

Bev Fredson

James Williams

Esther stared at the list. "Seriously? _Stephen_ was given the secrets and not me?"

"Focus, Esther." Zero scanned the list too. "They're all higher ranking than you."

"Who's Bev Fredson?" asked Esther, frowning. "I don't think I've heard of her."

"We can discount her."

Esther was taken aback at how quickly Zero said that. "Really? What makes you so sure?"

"She was suspended before she received the information. Something about tax fraud. Her name was still put on the list because she was intended to have received the information but she never actually got it."

"Great," sighed Esther. "So now the traitor's one of our friends? Stephen, Robin, Ferb, or James?"

"It appears so," Zero said reluctantly. "I don't like it either, but it's our only option if we're discounting the possibility that Isaac did it."

Esther glared at him. "Isaac did NOT leak those secrets, Zero!"

"I-I mean…it's our only option _since_ we're discounting the possibility that Isaac did it."

"Thank you."

As Esther narrowed her eyes at the piece of paper, reading it through again, Zero was struck once more by how beautiful she was. Her blue eyes were focused yet full of beauty, and her long, smooth brown hair was hanging loose next to her face as she scanned the record.

 _Say something, Zero_ , said a voice in the back of his mind. _Compliment her eyes or her hair or her beauty. Something. Say something!_

"Your focus is admirable."

"My focus is admirable?" Esther repeated incredulously. "What does that even mean?"

 _You idiot._

"I j-just meant that your dedication to solving this case is very…" He searched for a suitable adjective that would not insult or patronise her. "…admirable," he finished lamely. "The way you're solving this case, four years from when it was opened, because it involves your husband and you want him to have closure so you're refusing to let it go—not that I think you should let it go, of course, it involves your husband—n-not just involves him, it's his m-murder case, and I can't stop talking, please help."

Esther giggled, to Zero's surprise. "Thank you for staying with me. I really appreciate it."

"It's okay," Zero said. "Perhaps we should look at bank account records? See if there are any large deposits."

"What?"

"Well, you said the person who leaked the information received money for it. We should check the bank accounts of those four people and see if there are any sudden large additions."

"That's a great idea!" Esther hugged Zero tightly, which took him aback, but he hugged her back.

As they moved apart, Esther looked into Zero's eyes and found herself being psychologically moved. Zero was helping her solve the case of her dead husband, which would not be a mentally easy case to solve for either of them. Even though Isaac had been Esther's husband, Esther knew that Zero had feelings for her, and she was surprised to realise that she was okay with this.

Zero awkwardly took out his iPad. His fingers flying across the screen, it only took him a few minutes to find the necessary information.

"Here's Robin's bank record. Absolutely normal." He handed the tablet to her.

Esther went through Bev's record just in case, and then Ferb's. Both of them were clear, but on both James's and Stephen's, there was a large cash deposit of ten thousand pounds and twenty thousand pounds respectively. Neither seemed like enough to gain for selling information, but it was definitely unusual for two fairly-low-paid BOWCA agents to suddenly receive amounts of money that high. She hated to even think it, but it was likely that either Stephen or James was the one who leaked the information.

"I need a break from this," Esther sighed, wiping her forehead with the back of her fingers. "It's been so stressful at work since that mission yesterday."

"Was it really yesterday?" asked Zero, surprised.

"It's now early morning, so yeah it was yesterday," Esther replied, yawning. "Remember we had fish and chips for late lunch?"

"Yeah." Zero's stomach rumbled right at that moment. It had always had great timing. "I could go for some food. D-do you want to get some breakfast?"

"Only if it's a date," teased Esther.

Zero's eyes widened. "R-really?"

Esther abandoned the joking manner and became serious. She nodded. "Yes, Zero. It's time to stop avoiding it and just give it a try. That's if you're willing. Are you?"

A beam spread across Zero's face. "Esther, there's nothing I would be more willing to do."


	17. First Date Mistakes To Avoid

Both Esther and Zero were feeling nervous about this. Neither knew if this date was going to go well, but they both recognised that if they didn't try, there was no hope of a relationship.

So they found themselves in a café that did breakfast for people who had to get up early. After pouring over the menu for ten minutes, they decided to order cooked breakfasts.

As they waited for their food, Esther avoided making eye contact with Zero through their awkward silence.

"So…should we talk?" Zero asked eventually. "I mean, first dates are usually about getting to know your date a bit more but we've been partners for two years. Well, professional partners. I suppose we could talk about our hobbies and interests and stuff?"

Esther said nothing. She began absently twisting the wedding ring on her left hand, a gesture that Zero did not miss.

"Okay, how about this: I'll ask you questions and we both answer them?"

Esther still said nothing.

"So…uh…what's your favourite colour? Mine's silver because it's such a majestic colour, even though it's the colour most associated with second place."

"Mine's blue," replied Esther, still not looking at Zero. "It's the colour of the sky and the sea."

"That's nice…" Zero trailed off. That conversation was apparently over, so he attempted to start another. "What's your birthstone and zodiac sign? I'm pearl and Gemini."

"Diamond and Aries," Esther replied dully.

Zero watched her twist the wedding ring on her finger, before giving up. He stood up. "This was a mistake."

Esther started in alarm. "No, no! Please don't leave. I'm sorry."

Zero slowly sat back down. "I'm trying to make an effort here."

"I know you are and I'm really sorry." Esther seemed distressed. "I just can't stop thinking about Isaac. I'm trying to listen to you and have a good time with you, but my heart is aching and my brain is telling me I'm betraying Isaac's memory, which I know is stupid because he's g-gone and I'm allowed to move on, but it's just a horrible feeling…"

She paused for breath. Zero couldn't stop a small smile from coming onto his face. "It's okay. You're allowed to think about Isaac. He was your husband, after all. But don't think you're betraying him. It's been two years and, like you said, you're allowed to move on. You're allowed to date other people." He saw her hands resting on the table, and he placed his hands on hers. "You're an amazing woman, Esther. You deserve to be happy. If I can make you even half as happy as you were with Isaac, I'll be happy too."

Esther smiled as she held Zero's hands. "Thank you for helping me investigate. Your support has meant so much to me. I don't know if I'd have even wanted to investigate without you."

"No problem," smiled Zero. "I've enjoyed spending time with you, even if it was while surviving a disaster attack on HQ and investigating your husband's death."

At that moment, their food arrived. Esther, not realising until now how hungry she was, finished her breakfast in half the time Zero took.

But when they were both done, they paid and left quite quickly.

"We don't have to go back to HQ right now, do we?" asked Zero.

Esther shrugged. "Not necessarily. Why, did you want to do something?"

"Well, that was just part one of our date," Zero said, grinning boyishly. "Want to go to the park?"

"Sure," smiled Esther.

So Zero took Esther to the park, where they sat down on a park bench. By now, it was about nine am, and lots of families with children were in the park too, playing. As Zero observed Esther watching the kids wistfully, he decided to take a risk.

"Can I ask you a personal question?"

Esther regarded him amusedly. "Sure. Whether I answer the question or not is a different matter entirely."

Not quite sure how to respond to that, Zero got on with asking his question: "Would you and Isaac ever have had kids?"

Esther looked away, back at two kids who were flying a kite. "Well, we talked about it lots of times," she replied softly. "And…when Isaac died, I…I, um…I was pregnant."

"What?!" gasped Zero.

"Yeah. Scans showed I was going to have a little girl. But my shock and grief at Isaac's death must have triggered something in my body." Esther seemed to be struggling with her words. This was clearly hard for her to talk about. "I-I had a miscarriage."

Zero put his arms around Esther and pulled her gently close to her. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"That's probably what hurt me most," Esther said quietly. "Just after he died, I was able to convince myself it was going to be okay because I was going to have his baby. I wasn't going to be alone. Then when I miscarried…I felt like I was losing the last part of Isaac I had left. I was severely depressed. If it weren't for you coming along when you did, I don't know if I would have survived."

"It's okay," Zero said sympathetically. "You don't have to think about it now."

"I would love children," Esther said wistfully. "But…there was a complication when I had my miscarriage. I'm infertile now."

"Oh, no…!"

Esther nodded sadly. "So even if I were to marry again, I wouldn't be able to give my new husband any children."

Zero paused for a moment. "What if your new husband is fine without children?"

Esther giggled.

"Or if he was fine to adopt kids instead of having them biologically?" Zero pressed. "Or surrogacy?"

"I considered surrogacy," admitted Esther. "But that's only if I find a man who loves me past my inability to have children."

Zero was about to make a comment about how there was a man who loved her _before_ he knew about her infertility, when a familiar person came running up to them. Panting, she stopped in front of their bench. "Oh, th-thank god I found you," she heaved, bending forwards and resting her hands on her legs in an effort to recover. She had clearly run a long way.

"Ruth!" gasped Esther. "What's wrong?"

"You need to come back to HQ right now," Ruth said urgently, trying to regain her breath. "It's R-Robin. Robin's been attacked."

…

 **DUN DUN DUUUN!**

 **Also: poor Esther :( being infertile as a result of a miscarriage :'( :'(**


	18. Working It Out

Esther and Zero raced after Ruth as the three of them ran back to HQ, invoking several odd looks towards them on their way. Their base was almost a mile away from the park where they had been sitting, so it took them a while to reach the base.

When they did, they found the door locked. Esther and Zero collapsed against each other as Ruth fumbled for her key card, which apparently didn't work.

"My key doesn't work on the door," she panted. "I'm not a proper agent yet so I have to be let in by another member of staff."

"I don't have my key. Do you?" Esther asked Zero.

"No," Zero said, just as worriedly. "Great, so we're stuck out here."

Then there was a beeping sound and the door opened. The three agents hurried inside and found Stephen standing by the door release. Esther had to look away; she found it difficult even looking at him after the discovery that Stephen had been given the secret information and could have leaked it, leading to Isaac's death.

"Are you going up to see Robin?" he asked.

Esther and Zero both nodded. "Stephen, I need you to take James and go up to the records room. Search through there and see if you can find any information that tells us where Inspector Initials might have gone."

Stephen nodded. "Okay. Have you seen Rosie?"

"She was with Ferb and Gretchen when I left," Ruth replied. "And they were in Ferb's lab."

"Okay, great. Thanks." Stephen turned and hurried away.

"Ruth, can you go on ahead to the hospital and make sure we can visit?" Esther asked. "I just need to do something."

"She's not in the hospital," Ruth said. "The ceiling collapsed. We had to bring a hospital bed into the gym for her."

"Alright, then could you go there and make sure it's okay?"

"Esther, there's no staff there to stop you," Ruth said. "It'll be fine."

"Please," Esther reiterated, a pointed look in her eye.

Ruth must have seen this look because she nodded and left.

Zero pulled Esther closer so he could ask her quietly, "Are you sure it's a good idea to send our two prime suspects to a place together? If one of them is the culprit, you could be putting the other one in danger."

"They can both handle themselves," Esther replied. "Even against each other."

"James is a lot more skilled than Stephen," Zero said doubtfully. "And Stephen has more stamina and strength than James. I don't know if they'd be able to fight each other for long."

"That doesn't matter," Esther said dismissively. "It doesn't matter because it's not going to happen. I trust our friends. Neither James nor Stephen is the traitor."

With that, she began walking away. Zero fell into step next to her. "Careful that your love for our friends doesn't blind you to reality," he warned soberly. "Or you're going to have a very nasty wake-up call."

"What are you saying?" demanded Esther.

"I'm not telling you to suspect our friends and become paranoid about who you can and can't trust. All I'm saying is that you need to be aware that sometimes people aren't all they seem to be. Sometimes the lure of money is too great for a man. Or a woman," he added, seeing Esther's face. "The point is: if it does turn out to be one of our friends, I need you to be able to stay focused and professional. I just think it would be best if you open your mind to the possibility."

Part of Esther wanted to argue, but she knew Zero was right. It was way too naïve of her to believe that everybody was good and nobody would fall to corruption. She just really didn't want to believe it was James or Stephen. Both of them had been great friends to her—one greater than the other—for three to four years, longer than Esther had known Zero. James had been—apart from Isaac and then Zero—her best friend since she joined BOWCA four years ago. Stephen had only been transferred back to BOWCA from the Australian branch after Esther had been there one year, but he still quickly became one of Esther's closer friends in BOWCA.

Her thoughts were cut off when they reached the gym. Three salvaged hospital beds were set up nearest the radiator, so that any patients there would be warm. There was a figure lying in the leftmost bed. Esther and Zero made their way up to it. Esther stifled a gasp when she saw the state Robin was in: the whole area around her left eye was bruised, with the visible wound going over her nose—almost to her right eye—over to her ear, and stopping at the top of her top lip.

"What on Earth could have caused this?" Esther gasped in shock. "You said she was attacked? Who by?"

"We don't know," Ruth replied. "But since the injury is on the front of her face and there's no wound to the back of her head, we can assume she saw her attacker's face. She's unconscious from the blow but I did a quick X-Ray with the nearly broken X-Ray machine and there are no signs of internal injury to her head, so she should wake up soon." She paused. "What?"

Esther was staring at Ruth in admiration. "I was just thinking that if I didn't know who you were, I would have assumed that you were a full agent of BOWCA instead of just a trainee. You're being very professional."

Ruth blushed slightly. "Thank you. All I want is to help people."

"And you're certainly doing that," Zero said.

"Thank you."

A groan interrupted their conversation as Robin stirred on the bed. Esther took Robin's hand and squeezed it comfortingly. "Robin, can you hear me?"

Robin's eyes opened and blinked several times, though Esther noticed her left eye was closed slightly, probably due to the injury over it. "Esther…?" she croaked.

"I'm here. Do you remember what happened?"

"I-I remember I was hit." Robin frowned, trying to remember. "In the eye…it knocked me out…"

Zero and Esther both grimaced and sucked air in through their teeth. "If the blow to your eye was strong enough to knock you out, no wonder you've got an injury like that," Zero commented.

"Did you see who it was?" Esther asked Robin urgently.

She made eye-contact with Zero, and she knew he was thinking the same thing: whoever attacked Robin was most likely the culprit.

"I can't remember exactly," Robin said slowly. "The only thing I remember is that the man had some kind of blonde hair."

Esther and Zero stared at each other, both with shocked and scared expressions on their faces.

"B-but…that means…" Zero stammered.

"Oh no…" Esther's hand covered her mouth in shock. "Stephen…!"

…

 ***der gasp* XD make of that what you will I:} I purposefully didn't tell you what colour Stephen's hair is I:} I:} I:}**


	19. The Climax part 1 of 2

Stephen and Zero were in the records room, as Esther had ordered. They were on opposite ends of the room, while Stephen's daughter Rosie sat on top of a filing cabinet, swinging her legs.

"You know what I don't get?" Stephen asked eventually, inspecting a record.

"What?" James asked absently from the other side of the room, looking over another record.

"Who could have attacked Robin?" Stephen turned to look at James, who was facing away from him. "There were no intruders. Ferb and Gretchen were with Rosie. Zero and Esther were together. Ruth and I were together. You were-wait, where were you?"

James hesitated. "I-uh…"

"Oh, I know! You were with Robin," Stephen remembered. "Robin said she was going to catch up with you after you left. So you two were alone together. Did you see anybody around? Anybody who could have hurt Robin?"

James scratched his ear nervously. "N-no. I don't think so."

Stephen turned round and looked out the window. "Esther thinks the person who attacked Robin was the same person who gave the secret information to OWCA."

James's voice hardened, though Stephen failed to notice this. "Does she?"

"The people who could be linked with both the leak and Robin's attack must be very few. Robin can't have attacked herself, and Ferb was with Gretchen. And I know it wasn't me because I was with Ruth. The only person left is-." He broke off suddenly as he realised. "You…you were with Robin alone. You were given the information. It-it must have been-!"

"Daddy!" screamed Rosie suddenly.

Stephen whirled round and found James holding his terrified little daughter roughly around her waist. "Rosie!" Stephen yelled, drawing his gun. "James, let her go!"

"You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for," James snarled. "But then again, refusing to come to the records room with you would have looked very suspicious."

"Why?!" shouted Stephen. "Why did you leak the information?"

"I'm not the bad guy here!" James yelled angrily, completely skirting the question, Stephen noticed. "Mr Greenland down there is the real enemy!"

"Bannister's locked up," Stephen snapped. "As you will be soon." He cocked the gun. "Just as soon as you let go of my daughter."

"Daddy…!" whimpered Rosie.

James grinned, then he drew his gun. Stephen prepared to dodge a bullet but all James did was throw the gun at him. Stephen ducked, but the distraction allowed James to kick one of the wheeled filing cabinets towards him. It pinned him between it and the wall, snapping his head back and stunning him terribly. He collapsed on his side, the gun going flying from his hands. The last thing he heard before passing out was Rosie's terrified voice screaming, "DADDY!"

…

Guns drawn, Zero and Esther raced towards the records room. On their way, Ferb stopped them. "Guys, Bannister's escaped!" he panted. "Gretchen's gone looking for him but he's loose in the facility!"

"Just keep looking," Esther instructed him. "Keep looking, okay?"

"Okay."

Esther and Zero burst into the records room. Esther immediately spotted the unconscious Stephen and ran over to check on him. Zero, gun at the ready, checked round the room.

"Stephen, can you hear me?" Esther tried to keep the worry out of her voice as she examined her friend. "Stephen?"

Stephen's eyes fluttered open and registered Esther's face. "Esther?" he slurred.

"Are you okay?" Zero asked, coming over and standing above them. "What happened?"

"J-James…" Stephen suddenly tried to sit up. "James!"

"Hey, keep still." Esther gently placed her hands on his back to keep him steady. "You hit your head quite hard. What's happened to James?"

"He's the traitor," Stephen said urgently. "He leaked the information, and he's got Rosie!"

"What?" Zero demanded.

"He took Rosie," Stephen said again, his eyes beginning to glaze over. "You have to…have to stop him…"

Then he flopped back in Esther's arms. She quickly checked again for breathing and a pulse, while Zero stepped back, looking upwards. "He can't have gone down or we'd have seen him," he said. "The only place to go is the roof."

"Then go," Esther said, looking determinedly up at her partner. "I trust you."

Zero nodded, turned, and hurried up the stairs.

"Just hang on, Stephen," Esther said softly, stroking Stephen's arm. "We'll get Rosie back."

…

Zero burst through the door that led to the roof, gun drawn. No sooner had he come through the door than someone kicked the gun out of his hand, sending the weapon flying off the roof. Zero turned and saw James flying to attack him. Zero leapt backwards and kicked James in the stomach, pushing him backwards.

"I'm not the bad guy!" James yelled.

"Could have fooled me," Zero said back.

James and Zero were BOWCA's second and third best agents respectively, and their fight was exactly as fast and furious as one would expect. Neither was winning and neither was losing. Both were aware of the small fighting space and both were trying to use it to their advantage.

Then a six-year-old girl's voice let out a scream. Zero kicked James away and reacted just in time to wrap his strong arm around Rosie before she fell off the building. As he worked to hold onto the wildly flailing girl, he twisted his head round, expecting to see James attacking him while he was distracted, but James had his hands over his mouth and he was stumbling backwards.

"James, watch out for the-!" began Zero.

But he was too late. James's foot slipped and he fell off the edge of the building.

"James!" Zero yelled in alarm.

He watched as Esther appeared out of nowhere and leapt, managing to catch hold of James's hand before he fell. As she began to slip off the building too, Zero set Rosie down quickly and grabbed her leg with one hand and seized a metal pole by the door with the other.

"I'm so sorry, Esther!" James cried. "If-if I had known that Isaac…th-that what I did would lead to Isaac's…"

"Just be quiet for once, James!" snapped Esther.

James fell silent.

"All I want to know is why you sold the secrets." Even though this was Esther's only demand, she was scared of the answer.

She didn't want to lose her trust in James.

…

 **Had to split the chapter into two! D: amirite? But it's okay, I've already written the next chapter XD**


	20. The Climax part 2 of 2

**Okay so THIS is the penultimate chapter.**

 **A/N: lotta blood and some death in this chapter.**

…

James squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head away, tears beginning to fall from his eyes. "I-I would never have done it, believe me, but I had no other choice. M-my sister…she had cancer. She needed to g-go to America for t-treatment but none of us c-could afford it. I-I had no choice. I c-couldn't let my sister die. If I had known someone would kill Isaac over it, I-I would never have d-done it…please believe me. Afterwards, it felt like I was t-trading Lily's life for Isaac's, and I-I've hated myself ever since."

"You didn't kill Isaac?" demanded Esther through gritted teeth. James was heavy.

"No," James replied shakily. "I would never kill anybody, not even to keep my own secret. I would never do that to you, Esther. You've been my best friend for four years."

Esther suddenly slipped slightly further down, making James abruptly dip too. "You have to let me go," he said sadly. "Avenge Isaac. If it wasn't for me, Isaac would never have died."

"I'm not letting you go," Esther panted. "I can't lose someone else I care about."

"But I attacked Robin and Stephen!" James cried. "I can't live with myself!"

"Well I can't live with myself if I let you go. You're still my best friend and I care really deeply about you." Esther paused, straining hard. "And I know you didn't mean for Isaac to die. You did the wrong thing for the right reasons. I can't hold it against you."

"But I gave the secrets to Bannister. I can't just-."

"Wait, you gave the secrets to Bannister? Not OWCA?"

James shook his head. "He offered me ten thousand pounds, enough to send Lily to get the treatment she needed."

"So then Bannister gave them to OWCA? Why?"

"To frame Isaac, I guess. If anyone were to find out that I was the one who gave them away, there would be inquiries into where I got the money from. He'd be ruined." He paused and looked down sadly. "As I am now."

"We can work with this!" Esther shouted excitedly, making James look back up at her in surprise. "Don't you see? We can work with this! We can tell the investigating officers that the information was stolen from you! It was on a flash drive, yes?"

"Yes."

"Which you gave to Bannister?"

"Y-yes."

"We can tell them that it was stolen from you! Who's going to refute it?"

"Well, Bannister himself would be a-."

Zero suddenly lost his grip on the pole, making the human chain slide a little further down. He put both hands on Esther's ankle and dug his heels, trying to prevent his friends from falling. "Now would be a good time to do something!" he yelled.

"What's your decision?" Esther asked James. "Do you still want me to let you go or do you want to seize this glimmer of hope?"

James gazed into her eyes, and for a moment Esther was terrified he was going to let go.

"For me," Esther pleaded. "Please."

James met her eyes once again and gave a small nod.

"Help us up!" Esther shouted up to Zero.

Then strong hands took hold of Esther and James. They saw that it was Ferb, Gretchen, Ruth, and even Robin was there. They helped Esther and James back onto the roof. James was knelt on the edge of the roof, head bowed. Esther took his hand and gave a sympathetic smile. "We'll help you," she said. "You've poured six hard years into this organisation. We're not about to let you go now."

James, still crying, smiled and tightly hugged Esther, who smiled and hugged him back. The watching agents believed it was finally over, including Esther and James, until the latter caught sight of the roof door quietly opening, revealing a man with a gun.

"Esther!" yelled James, pushing her to the side.

As soon as Esther fell into Zero's arms, there was the sound of a gun going off. Immediately, James let out an agonising gasp of pain and blood exploded from his chest.

Everybody on the roof either yelled James's name or "NO!"

Ferb was the first to react. He leapt at Bannister but the evil scientist hit him in the stomach with surprising force. Gretchen caught her fiancé as he stumbled backwards. Stephen appeared and scooped up Rosie as Bannister whirled on her. Then Robin attacked but her movements were weak from her injury and Bannister grabbed her in a chokehold. Air running out, she scrambled to pull away but she couldn't and nobody was able to help.

Except Zero.

As his gunshot went off, the evil scientist let go of Robin in shock and pain as the same thing happened to him that had happened to James. Except, unlike Bannister's own aim, Zero's was true. The evil scientist was dead before he hit the floor.

Robin, huddled against the wall, stared at his body through wide, shocked eyes. Stephen knelt beside her with Rosie as she gasped for breath.

Gretchen propped Ferb up as the green-haired man recovered from the stunning blow to his stomach.

Then everyone on the roof heard Esther's cries. "James, stay with me!"

Zero threw himself down on James's other side, trying not to cry at the sight of James's pale face. "Is he okay?" Zero choked.

"I-I don't know," Esther stammered. "Someone call an ambulance, now!"

Gretchen was the fastest to get onto that task.

"James, can you hear me?" Zero asked desperately.

James's chest jerked as he began to go into cardiac arrest.

"We're losing him!" sobbed Esther. "James!"

Zero attempted CPR, getting James's blood on his hands in the process, but it was clear it wasn't doing anything. Nevertheless, he carried on doggedly, unwilling to let his best friend die.

"Come on, James!" snapped Zero, almost crying. "Come on!"

As Zero slowly stopped the chest compressions, both he and Esther began to cry. Esther covered her mouth with her hands as tears flowed down her face.

"Oh, James…" she whispered.

…

 ***cries***


	21. Epilogue

**FINALLY the last chapter! Happy but also sad, amirite?**

…

 **One Week Later**

Esther found Stephen sitting outside on the bench, watching his six-year-old do cartwheels on the grass outside BOWCA HQ. Esther sat down next to Stephen on the bench.

"So if you don't mind me asking, where did that twenty thousand pounds come from?" she asked.

Stephen chuckled. "Would you believe it if I said my parents won forty thousand pounds on the lottery and gave me half of it?"

Esther laughed. "Yes I would. It's the only plausible explanation."

There was silence for a moment as the two watched Rosie play.

"Have you been holding up okay?" Stephen asked. "I mean, you did see your best friend literally killed right in front of you a week ago."

"Yeah…" Esther sniffled and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I don't know if that moment will ever leave me. I can't get it out of my head: the moment his heart stopped and I saw I'd lost him." She changed the subject. "How's your head?"

"I hit it pretty hard. The doctor said I might have slight anterograde amnesia."

Esther frowned. "What's that?"

"Basically short term memory loss," Stephen explained. "You know how sometimes you forget what you were going to say or you walk into a room and forget why you went in there?"

Esther nodded.

"Well, it'll be like that for me except a lot more frequently and with basic information like my address or what I just had for breakfast…" He paused. "…or my own daughter's name."

Esther put her hand on Stephen's shoulder. "It's okay. We're here to help you through this. And so's your amazing little girl."

"I just wish she hadn't been forced to go through all that," Stephen said quietly. "She must have been terrified."

At that moment, they heard footsteps on the ground behind them. They turned and saw the familiar man coming towards them. Stephen's face turned dark and he stood up.

"Stephen-," began Esther.

"No offense Esther, but I don't really want to be around the man who gave me anterograde amnesia and kidnapped my daughter."

Esther couldn't argue with that. "Are you ever going to forgive him?"

"I can for leaking the information," Stephen replied, already on his way to get Rosie. "I would have done the same thing if it had been Rosie with cancer. What I can't forgive is attacking me and my daughter. Maybe the grudge will lessen with time but I don't know if I can ever properly forgive him for the hurt he caused me and the fear he caused Rosie."

Esther nodded and watched Stephen collect Rosie and leave. A few seconds later, James sat down on the bench next to Esther, wincing in pain as he settled.

"How's the chest?" Esther asked.

"Better than when it had a bullet in it," James replied dryly.

Esther chuckled. "I guess so."

A slightly uncomfortable silence descended on them. "I know I said this before but…thank you for saving my life," Esther said. "If you hadn't pushed me out the way…"

"I owed you two," James replied. "Now I only owe you one. And that one is a massive debt that I can never repay. Not without a miracle and being able to bring the dead back to life."

Esther bowed her head. Feeling rather saddened, she changed the subject. "Your sister…did she survive?"

James blinked several times before leaning back, grimacing. "Yes," he answered eventually. "I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I had betrayed my country for nothing. But I attended Lily's wedding last year. She and her wife are very happy."

Esther shot James a look before relaxing. "I'm glad to hear she's okay."

James nodded. "Well, I had better get back to Inspector Initials. She expects a full report now that she's back."

"And I want to check on Ferb and Gretchen."

The two of them got up and went back into OWCA HQ, where they started splitting up. Before they did, however, Esther caught James's wrist. "About what Bannister said to you in that interview…that secret of yours…that was your, uh…"

"Betrayal?" finished James dryly. "Yeah it was. Bannister knew, obviously, because he was the one I sold the information to."

"And we're assuming he was the one to…to kill Isaac?"

James nodded. "Most likely."

"Okay. Thank you."

They went their separate ways. When Esther entered the office floor, she couldn't help a smile. It was back to the way she liked it: agents everywhere, the hum of conversation, and the overall vibe of life that emanated from it.

On her way to Ferb's office, Esther bumped into Ruth and Robin, who were standing together by the water cooler. They seemed to be chatting happily together with cups of water in their hands.

"Hey Esther," grinned Robin. "How's life?"

"Can't complain," Esther said, returning Robin's grin. "How's your face?"

Robin frowned for a moment before apparently realising. She laughed. "Ha, I was about to take that as an insult before I remembered what you were talking about. Yeah, my face is healing. I'm just as beautiful as ever."

"I'm glad to hear it." Esther turned to her protégé. "And Ruth, I want to thank you. You weren't even a full agent when you helped save BOWCA. You really stepped up to the plate in a time of need and I'm really grateful."

Ruth smiled. "It's alright. I couldn't even call myself a BOWCA trainee if I failed to even try."

"Ruth, you managed to beat up both the wind machine AND the tremor machine," Robin said, nudging Ruth amusedly. "You saved the day while the rest of us were busy being knocked on our butts or knocked unconscious or knocked out a window." Here she shot a mock-angry glare at the nearest window, which wasn't even the one she had fallen out of, making Ruth and Esther giggle. "Like Esther said, you really stepped up. I can tell you're going to be a contender for BOWCA's best agent."

"Really?" Esther eyed Robin mock-sternly.

Robin grinned and stage-whispered to Ruth: "But it won't be easy. I know: I've been trying for two years."

This made all three women giggle. "I gotta go now," Esther said. "I want to check on Ferb and Gretchen."

"They're in Ferb's office," said Ruth, pointing.

Esther waved goodbye to her friends and headed to Ferb's office. She peered her head in and saw them both inside. Ferb was sitting in his chair while Gretchen was perched on his desk. They both looked like they were laughing together, so Esther decided to leave them alone.

As she turned away, she bumped into just the man she was going to look for. "Hey, Esther!"

"Hi Zero," Esther said, blushing like a teenage girl.

"Have you seen James? I was about to go check on him."

"He's gone to see Inspector Initials," Esther replied. "He's fine."

"Oh. Good."

For the third time that day, there was a slightly awkward silence.

"So…do you want to try a second date?" asked Zero hesitantly.

Esther let out a laugh. "He's forward, isn't he?"

She laughed again at the panicked look on Zero's face. "I'm kidding," she giggled. "You're cute when you're panicked."

Zero grinned and took her hands. "I'm not going to say I love you, mainly because I don't know if that's true yet, but I do deeply care about you."

"I deeply care about you too," Esther beamed.

Zero decided to take the risk and lean in. Esther leaned in too, and their lips met in a kiss.

And it was the most perfect moment in the world.

…

 **Man, this story took ages to write XD I posted it before PRIYA'S PAIN for crying out loud! XD but I'm glad it's finally finished :D**


End file.
